LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
Ohap.JlA Copyright No.8j£i1 

sheitHaVsl & 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE WESTMINSTER BIOGRAPHIES 



ADAM DUNCAN 

BY 

H. W. WILSON 



ADAM DUNCAN 



BY 

H. W. WILSON 




BOSTON 

SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 

MDCCCC 



Copyright, ipoo 
By Smally Maynard £sf Company 

{Incorporated) 



Entered at Stationers' Hall 

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Lifortrt.1 y Of Oon.-rrd** 

OCT 22 1900 

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ORDM WiSlON, 






George H. Ellis, Boston 



The photogravure used as a frontispiece 
to this volume is from an engraving by J. 
Andrews, from the portrait by J. Hoppner, 
E.A. 



PEEFACE. 

In this brief sketch of the great comman- 
der who can be ranked after only Nelson 
amongst his contemporaries, a certain 
amount of space has been devoted to the 
social condition of the navy during the time 
of his service. This is necessary, even 
within such narrow limits of space, as other- 
wise misleading ideas might be formed con- 
cerning Duncan's character. His refusal, 
for instance, upon two occasions to go to 
the West Indies, when the Monarch and 
Blenheim were ordered there, might lead 
men to conclude that he was an officer who 
spared himself. It is not till we under- 
stand under what sanitary conditions he 
had passed his early years at sea that we, 
who are accustomed to regard life in the 
navy of our own day as healthier, if any- 
thing, than life on shore, can realise that in 
the middle of the eighteenth century most 
constitutions were wrecked by it, not till we 
turn to the lurid pages of Smollett or the 



viii PEEFACE 

dustier records of Beatson that we learn 
ivhat West Indian service meant. It could 
be faced by only the young or healthy, and 
even by them rarely with impunity. Not 
until quite the close of the eighteenth cen- 
tury was there a real and sensible improve- 
ment in the matter of sanitation on ship- 
board. 

A few details, as yet unpublished, from 
the navy records in the Record Office, have 
been embodied in the account of the Nore 
mutiny, though this ivork makes no pre- 
tence at originality. The author must ac- 
knowledge his great indebtedness to the Earl 
of Camperdown 1 s admirable biography of 
his great ancestor, where is collected all the 
material that remains for a biography of 
the admiral, with the exception of the logs, 
journals, and correspondence which are to 
be found in the Record Office. These have 
been examined, but they yield little that is 
new or important. Unfortunately, in Dun- 
can's case, no such correspondence is pre- 
served as fills the seven volumes of Nicolas' 8 



PEEFACE ix 

Despatches and Letters of Lord Nelson. 
Very few papers or letters dealing with the 
private life and personality of the admiral 
survive. We have no record of his thoughts 
and opinions. Consequently ; he is a some- 
what shadowy figure; and there is diffi- 
culty in reconstructing his character, A 
singular fatality, indeed, seems to have pur- 
sued his letters. His intimate correspond- 
ence with the great Lord Spencer, which 
would have been of priceless value, perished 
many years ago. 

H. W. WILSON. 



CHRONOLOGY. 

1731. 
July 1. Adam Duncan was born in Dun- 
dee. 

1746. 
April. Sailed on his first cruise in the 
Tryal sloop, under his cousin, Com- 
mander R. Haldane. 

1747. 
November. Transferred to the Shoreham 
sloop. 

1748. 
February 24. His first action, attempting 
to cut out a French privateer at Belle- 
isle. 

1749. 
January. Midshipman on board the Cen- 
turion, under Captain, the Hon. A. 
Keppel, commodore in command of the 
Mediterranean station. 

1751. 
Returns to England when the Centurion 
is paid off. Unemployed till 1754, 



xii CHKOSTOLOGY 

1754. 
December 22. Appointed acting lieuten- 
ant on board the Norwich. 

1755. 
January 10. Appointment confirmed by 
the admiralty, and Duncan transferred 
back to the Centurion. 

1756. 
July 10. Second lieutenant of the Torbay, 
under Keppel. 

November. The Torbay captures the 
French frigate, Chariot Royal. 

1757. 
September. The Torbay takes part in an 
unsuccessful attack upon the Isle of Aix. 
October-November. She captures several 
prizes and the privateer Eustan. 

1758. 
December 29. Wounded in the leg in 
the Torbay 1 s attack upon Goree. 

1759. 
September 21. Promoted commander. 



CHRONOLOGY xiii 

1759 (continued) 
October 1. First independent command 
of Royal Exchange, armed ship. 

1761. 
February 25. Promoted captain and ap- 
pointed to the Valiant. 
March 29. Sails to attack Belleisle. 
June 7. Belleisle captured. 

1762. 
March 2. Sails on the Havana expedition. 
July 30. Leads the storming party 
against the Morro. 

1764. 
June 26. The Valiant paid off. Unem- 
ployed till 1778. 

1774. 
Visits Italy. 

1777. 
Marries Henrietta Dundas. 

1778. 
May 16. Appointed to the Suffolk. 
December 4. Transferred to the Monarch. 



xiv CHKONOLOGY 

1779. 
September 2-3. With Admiral Hardy's 
fleet retreats before a superior Franco- 
Spanish, force. 

January 16. Takes part in the defeat of 
Langara's fleet j captures the San Au~ 
gustin. 

1781. 
Ordered to the West Indies. Is obliged 
by his health to resign command of the 
Monarch. 

1782. 
March. Appointed to command the Blen- 
heim. 

October 21. Takes part in Howe's action 
with the Spaniards off Cape Spartel. 
November. Eesigns command on the 
Blenheim, being ordered to the West 
Indies. 

1783. 
January 15. Appointed to the Foudro- 
yant. 

April 1. Transferred to the Edgar for 
three years. 



CHEONOLOGY xv 

1787. 
September 24. Promoted rear-admiral. 

1793. 
February 3. Promoted vice-admiral. 

1795. 
February. Appointed to command the 
North Sea fleet. Hoists his flag in the 
Venerable. 

June. Promoted admiral. 
Summer, Offered and declines the Medi- 
terranean command. 

1796. 
October. Unsuccessful attempt on the 
Texel. 

1797. 
April 30. Mutiny in the Venerable sup- 
pressed. 

May 13. Mutiny in the Adamant sup- 
pressed. 

May 28. Sails for the Texel. Deserted 
by all his fleet except the Adamant and 
Venerable. 

May 30. Blockades the Texel with these 
two ships. 



xvi CHRONOLOGY 

1797 (continued) 
June 12. Joined by a Russian squadron. 
June 14. Collapse of the Nore mutiny. 
October 11. Defeats the Dutch fleet at 
Cainperdown. 

October 17. Created Viscount Duncan of 
Camperdown. 

December 20. Takes part in the solemn 
thanksgiving for naval victories. 

1799. 
August 30. Dutch fleet in the Helder 
captured by a joint expedition. 

1800. 
March. Decides to retire. 
April. Strikes his flag. 

1801. 
January. Offers his services against the 
Northern Coalition. 

1804. 
July. Again offers his services. 
August 4. Dies at Coldstream on his way 
home from London, wt. 73. 



ADAM DUNCAN 



ADAM DUNCAN. 

Adam Duncan, the future admiral 
and founder of the noble house of Cam- 
perdown, came into the world at a time 
when the fortunes of his country seemed 
at their lowest ebb. He was born on 
July 1, 1731, when George II. had 
been but four years on the throne, 
when there were still old people who 
could remember the rule of Cromwell, 
when the union of Scotland with Eng- 
land was only a recent memory, and 
when the question which of the two 
dynasties, Stuart or Hanoverian, was to 
govern Great Britain, was far from being 
irrefutably settled. In his own lifetime, 
which was not immoderately long, since 
it did not attain to the fourscore years 
of the Psalmist, he saw the final choice 
made. The momentous decision between 
a policy of continental and colonial ex- 
pansion was reached by this country. 
He was a boy when the seventy years* 



2 ADAM DUNCAN 

struggle with France opened, in which 
he played so splendid a part and which 
finally ended in the establishment of the 
British Empire ; his manhood saw Eng- 
land at, it might seem, the summit of 
glory ; his advancing years witnessed her 
fall, but her fall not without honour ; 
his old age saw her triumph once more, 
though his eyes closed forever on the 
world before the final defeat of Napoleon. 
And thus his life covers the most inter- 
esting and the most stirring period of 
our history, — an epoch of romance and 
adventure and hard fighting and hero- 
ism rarely or never to be surpassed, the 
adolescence of our modern empire, as the 
u spacious times " of Queen Elizabeth 
were the adolescence of the smaller unit 
of the nation. 

It is strange to contrast our own more 
peaceful century with this turbulent 
and stormy age. Between 1731 and 
1804, which years limit the term of 
Duncan's life, England was at war from 



ADAM DUNCAN 3 

1739 to 1748, from 1756 to 1763, from 
1775 to 1783, from 1793 to 1801, and 
through 1803 and 1804. That is to say 
through nearly one-half of the period 
the nation's energies were centred upon 
war. The struggles of these times were 
all the more terrible, inasmuch as they 
were protracted over long years, and 
inasmuch as the utter absence of such a 
thing as sanitary knowledge inflicted 
the most fearful sufferings upon the 
combatants. Thousands died in battle, 
tens of thousands of fever and pestilence 
and scurvy, till the death-roll of the 
nations struggling for world-power at- 
tained ghastly proportions. 

The union of Scotland with England 
had abolished the dualism which had 
tied England's hands at many critical 
seasons, and admitted Scotland and 
Scotsmen to a full share in the trade 
and exploitation of the empire. It gave 
to England a new strength, gradually 
identifying with her interests a race of 



4 ADAM DUNCAN 

unexampled courage, tenacity, and busi- 
ness insight, which has written its glo- 
ries in red on every field where Eng- 
lishmen and Scotsmen have fought side 
by side. Hateful at first to Scotland, the 
union ended by giving her wealth and 
prosperity and something more. For, if 
it be said to-day that England rules the 
world, it is also said that Scotsmen rule 
England. The sacrifice of nationality 
was wisely and rightly made. The day 
of small and weak nations had passed. 

When Duncan saw the light at Dun- 
dee, the era of prosperity for Scotland 
had as yet hardly begun. The soreness 
generally felt in the country at the 
union aided and abetted the efforts of 
the Jacobites, who were everywhere 
numerous and powerful. The Georges 
were regarded as foreign sovereigns, who 
knew little or nothing of Scotland and 
probably cared less. They never visited 
or showed the smallest interest in their 
northern kingdom. But the Pretender 



ADAM DUNCAN 5 

was still remembered. Only fifteen years 
before Duncan's birth he had lodged in 
the very place wherein the admiral was 
born. He was of Scotch descent, and he 
had all the Stuart grace of manner. 
Quite apart from this, the deep and pas- 
sionate loyalty of the Highlander chiefs 
and tribes to the man whom they re- 
garded as the representative of their 
anointed king earned their support the 
moment he showed himself. 

All men in Scotland had to take one 
side or the other, for faction ran high. 
The house of Duncan, however, as Low- 
landers who did not love the memory of 
the Stuarts, were strong Whigs, and sup- 
porters of the Georges. The admiral 
had two elder brothers, in both of whom 
the spirit of adventure asserted it- 
self. John went to India, and died far 
away from Dundee, in China, before he 
had made a name. Alexander entered 
the army in the terrible times of Cullo- 
den $ and, if he did not climb to the sum- 



6 ADAM DUNCAN 

mits of glory, yet earned a solid reputa- 
tion as a man of capacity, learning, and 
courage. Adam, youngest of the trio, 
entered the navy in 1746, at the age of 
fifteen. 

Little or nothing remains of his early 
life. Though of the four great naval 
victories which were won by the British 
fleet in the final war with France, one 
stands to his credit, — the other three 
ranking amongst the achievements of 
the immortal Kelson, — no pious chroni- 
cler in his own lifetime gathered up the 
scattered fragments of his story when 
the people yet lived who remembered 
him and who could have told of him. 
No such records of his early days sur- 
vive as survive in the case of Nelson. 
He attained greatness only in his old 
age ; and even then it was his hard fate 
for the fame of Camperdown to be swal- 
lowed up in the yet more brilliant 
glories of the Nile, Copenhagen, and 
Trafalgar, while men were only too eager 



ADAM DUNCAN 7 

to forget the story of the great mutiny. 
It has been left for after generations, 
seeing events in their true perspective, 
to mark the splendours of his work and 
to collect what scattered wreckage of his 
history floats on the sea of time. 

Duncan' s first ship was the wretched lit- 
tle sloop Tryal, a cockle-shell of one hun- 
dred and forty-two tons, mounting eight 
carriage guns and six swivels. Her com- 
plement did not probably exceed seventy 
men and boys. She was commanded by 
his cousin, Eobert Haldane. In these 
small vessels the conditions of life were 
usually miserable both for officers and 
men. The ship would be very wet, and 
there was very little space below. Lord 
Dundonald, who commanded the Speedy, 
of one hundred and fifty- eight tons, a 
vessel of much the same size, tells us that 
his cabin was only five feet high, and that, 
to shave, he had to remove the skylight 
and put his head through. Presumably, 
Duncan, when he joined the ship, did so 



8 ADAM DUNCAN 

as a captain's servant. Officers in those 
days were allowed to take a certain num- 
ber of young relatives or retainers with 
them to sea, and these were generally 
rated as servants. They filled much the 
same place as the modern naval cadet. 

The Tryal was despatched from Sheer - 
ness to Leith, where Duncan went on 
board her. She had charge of a con- 
voy of transports, conveying stores and 
re- enforcements to the troops then en- 
gaged in stamping out the Jacobite re- 
bellion. While she was at sea, the deci- 
sive battle of Culloden was fought, and the 
hopes of the Young Pretender crushed 
for ever. She proceeded to cruise off 
the west coast of Scotland with the ob- 
ject of preventing Prince Charlie's es- 
cape, but failed in this. After weeks 
and months of dull and dreary cruising, 
she at last got back to Plymouth in the 
autumn of 1747. 

If we wish to know what service in the 
navy was like at this time, we have only 



ADAM DUNCAN 9 

to go to the pages of Smollett and Edward 
Thompson. So much of the great period 
of Duncan's life is filled with his deal- 
ings with the mutineers that it will he 
well to note even at this early date the 
causes at work which ultimately pro- 
duced the great explosion of 1797. 
Smollett wrote from the standpoint of 
the warrant officer, — for such the sur- 
geon was in these days, — hut he wrote 
with a very considerable knowledge of 
the navy, having himself served in Sir 
Challoner Ogle's expedition to the "West 
Indies, of 1740 and 1741. Though a 
novelist, he is a realist rather than a 
romancer, and can generally be trusted. 
Thompson was a captain in the navy, of 
good reputation and service. He wrote 
of a later period than Smollett, but in 
broad outline the two descriptions coin- 
cide. 

What is most striking in Smollett's 
narrative is the absolute impunity with 
which the caprices of captains could be 



10 ADAM DUNCAN 

gratified. Officers of the lower ratings 
could be put in irons, and men barbar- 
ously punished or even killed, without, 
it would seem, the smallest account being 
afterwards demanded from the captain. 
There was no redress, and consequently 
the miseries of the seamen under a 
brutal officer must have been extreme. 
The food on board was filthily bad. 

Our provisions [says the hero of Smollett's 
story] consisted of putrid salt beef, to which 
the sailors gave the name of Irish horse; salt 
pork of New England, which, though neither 
fish nor flesh, savoured of both ; bread from the 
same country, every biscuit whereof, like a 
piece of clockwork, moved by its own internal 
impulse, occasioned by the myriads of insects 
that dwelt within it ; and butter served out by 
the gill, that tasted like train oil thickened 
with salt. Instead of small beer, each man was 
allowed three half-quarters of brandy or rum, 
which were distributed every morning. 

In an age when the secret of distilling 
water had been forgotten, and all the 
ship's supply had to be carried in hogs- 
heads and butts, the water was usually 



ADAM DUNCAN 11 

foul and putrid. In the expedition of 
1741 against Carthagena, — in a tropi- 
cal climate, — only one quart a day 
was allowed each man for all purposes. 
That is to say, the whole complement of 
a large fleet was subjected to the daily 
and hourly torture of thirst. 

With such food and such water, it is 
scarcely to be wondered at that any fleet 
which kept the sea for any time became 
sickly, or that thousands of men were 
swept away by fever and scurvy. Not 
many years before Duncan's entrance 
into the navy, Admiral Hosier, in the 
West Indies, with a fleet the comple- 
ment of which reached only 4, 750 men, 
lost in two years four thousand officers 
and men. Ten years later the Stirling 
Castle, with a total crew of 480, after a 
few months' cruise in the Channel, re- 
turned to port with only 160 fit for duty. 
Anson's squadron, on his famous voyage 
round the world, was in such a state when 
it reached Juan Fernandez that in the 



12 ADAM DUNCAN 

Centurion only twenty men out of four 
hundred could be mustered for work. 
In this ship "they buried four, five, 
and sometimes six men a day." Even 
Boscawen's fleet, in 1755, was depleted 
by "jail fever,' 7 a form of virulent ty- 
phus, due to disregard of the most ele- 
mentary sanitary rules. Upwards of two 
thousand seamen died of the distemper. 
Far later returns speak eloquently of the 
unnecessary and preventable waste of life 
which occurred in the British fleet. Be- 
tween 1774 and 1780, 175,990 men were 
raised for the navy, of whom only 1,243 
were slain in action ; while no less than 
18,541 died of sickness, and 42,000 de- 
serted. In the war of 1756-63, 184,893 
men were raised ; and, though only 
1,512 fell in battle, but 49,673 men re- 
mained at the close of the struggle. 
The others had melted away through 
disease and desertion. These stupefying 
figures give us a better idea of the mis- 
eries and hardships of the seaman's lot 



ADAM DUNCAN 13 

than even Smollett's ghastly picture, 
painted with the sceva indignatio of the 
man of letters and science. 

The most terrible feature of the time 
was the suffering of the sick and the 
wounded. The ship of the line's hospi- 
tal, or sick-bay is thus described by 
Smollett : — 

Here I saw about fifty miserable, distem- 
pered wretches, suspended iu rows, so huddled 
one upon another that not more than fourteen 
inches' space was allotted for each with his bed 
and bedding, and deprived of the light of the 
day as well as of fresh air, breathing nothing 
but a noisome atmosphere of the morbid steam 
exhaling from their own excrements and dis- 
eased bodies, devoured with vermin hatched in 
the filth that surrounded them, and destitute 
of every convenience necessary for people in 
that helpless condition. 

There is plenty of evidence to show 
that this picture was not exaggerated ; 
and there is good reason to think that 
Captain Oakum, the inhuman tyrant, 
who declared that he would have no 
sick men in his ship, flogged the 



14 ADAM DUNCAN 

sufferers from fever, sent the dropsical 
aloft, and compelled those who spat 
blood to work at the pumps, really 
existed. Indeed, no sacredness attached 
to the lives of human beings — provided 
they were not of rank — in these days. 
Like the Turkish army, which in the 
1897 campaign saw no use in wounded 
men, and therefore did not trouble itself 
about them, the British navy of the 
middle eighteenth century never con- 
cerned itself with the sick or suffer- 
ing. They might rot or starve for all 
it cared. 

The discipline seems to have been as 
miserable as the sanitation. In Roder- 
ick Random's ship, when anything hap- 
pens, the officers and men run con- 
fusedly to and fro, hallooing and shout- 
ing. The ships were crammed with jail- 
birds, smugglers, and poachers, or some- 
times, when there was especial want of 
men, the admiralty, with exquisite hu- 
mour, sent on board sick and debilitated 



ADAM DUNCAN 15 

Greenwich x>ensioners. If these died, the 
country was saved the cost of their pen- 
sions. If they lived through it all, they 
were proved malingerers. It was like 
the dilemma which beset the unhappy 
woman accused of witchcraft, — and 
only four years before Duncan's birth a 
woman was burnt in Scotland for witch- 
craft, — if she floated on a pond, she was 
guilty, and was burnt at the stake : if 
she sank, she was innocent, but was, 
unfortunately, drowned. As for the 
officers, Thompson gives us this beauti- 
ful picture of the lieutenant of 1758-63 : 
"A chaw of tobacco, a rattan [with 
which to belabour the laggards among 
the men], and a rope of oaths were suf- 
ficient qualifications to constitute a lieu- 
tenant ' ' ; but he notes that since then a 
great improvement had taken place. 

At a time when any affectation of devo- 
tion to the interests of the country or the 
navy was laughed at as hypocrisy j when 
corruption was everywhere rampant, 



16 ADAM DUNCAN 

under rulers who in no sense stirred or 
appealed to the finer qualities which 
then, as always, were to he found in the 
hearts of Englishmen ; when Horace Wal- 
pole wrote that, if the Pretender came, 
England would look on and say, " Fight, 
dog! fight, bear!" when Henry Fox 
could say, "England is for the first- 
comer" ; when the watchword of the 
squires was, "If the French come, I'll 
pay, but devil take me if I'll fight," — it 
is little wonder that men showed them- 
selves the cowards and knaves every one 
pretended to think them. In no other 
period of our naval history are the 
instances of misconduct, or even gross 
cowardice in action, so many and so 
painful. After every great battle there 
was a rich crop of courts- martial on 
captains or admirals who would not 
"go down to the fight." After the bat- 
tle of Toulon, in 1744, the captains of 
the Dorsetshire, Eoyal Oak, Rupert, Chi- 
chester, Boyne, and Essex, were all pun- 



ADAM DUNCAN 17 

ished for misconduct, where they did not 
abscond or die on their way home. The 
two admirals quarrelled, and failed to 
support each other ; and they also were 
brought to trial, when the senior officer, 
who was probably the less guilty of the 
two, was cashiered. The first lieutenant 
of a British ship of forty guns was shot 
for cowardice in surrendering to a 
French privateer. Superior British 
squadrons in one instance, under Peyton, 
in the East Indies, in 1746, got out of 
the enemy's way ; or in another instance, 
under Captain Mitchell, of the Lenox, 
remained in presence of the inferior 
enemy, and dared not close and fight 
a decisive action. Captain Mitchell's 
only punishment was a fine and dismissal 
from the service. Last and more famous 
of all was Byng's weak action at Mi- 
norca, which was most terribly punished, 
though, certainly, his conduct had been 
far less reprehensible than that of many 
of the officers mentioned above. 



18 ADAM DUNCAN 

"With this sort of spirit abroad in the 
navy, there is little wonder that British 
successes were few and far between, and 
disgraceful reverses all too common. 
Quarrels and discussions between the 
army and navy occurred, whenever the 
two forces attempted to co-operate. At 
Cartagena, at Santiago de Cuba, at 
Quiberon, such disputes, when combined 
with the usual slackness of either service 
at this time, issued in unsuccess, and 
wasted the lives of hundreds of British 
soldiers or seamen. 

Yet, in spite of this rottenness upon 
the surface, the navy and the nation 
were sounder than might have been 
supposed. If there were plenty of Cap- 
tain Oakums and Captain Whiffles, 
there were men of the stamp of Bos- 
cawen and Hawke, waiting patiently to 
do the work when their time should 
come, and when the incompetence of 
the lordlings and men of influence who 
engrossed the most profitable commands 



ADAM DUNCAN 19 

should be discovered by some master 
mind. The nation was neither so cow- 
ardly nor so weak as the pessimists strove 
to represent it. It only waited for the 
coming of a man. And, when the first 
and greatest Pitt — the one British 
statesman since Cromwell who has thor- 
oughly understood the use of a navy — 
attained to power, it was seen of what 
great things the race was capable, well 
and bravely led. 

Duncan was, fortunately, saved from 
the corrupting influence of his times. 
He came from a small and remote 
Scotch country town, where men still 
worshipped God, and where it was not 
the first and greatest requisite to i ( trifle 
well," and live an infamous life. He 
saw, in all probability, the best side of 
the service. He was, for the most part, 
in his early days, either under his own 
family connections, who would naturally 
temper for him the asperities of sailor 
life, or under distinguished officers, such 



20 ADAM DUNCAN 

as Keppel, who were of aristocratic de- 
scent, but yet were keen on the service, 
and with whom, we may c *ure, his 
family had interest. Yet for the 

officers, who had far bet" ; iood than 
the seamen and who were n it, like them, 
packed into the merest fraction of space 
between decks, the life was very trying. 
Few of our admirals of this period en- 
dured much service at sea without con- 
tracting disease ; and the subordinate 
officers in stations such as the West 
Indies died very fast, — a fact to which, 
in later days, Horatio Nelson owed, in 
great part, his rapid promotion. 

Throughout his life Duncan was noted 
for three things, — his gigantic stature, 
his grace of persor and of character, and 
his unaffected piety. In all that we see 
or read of him he was one of the most 
lovable of men. And what he was in 
old age, when he became famous, that 
surely he was in youth, when he was yet 
obscure. A certain want of fine breed- 



ADAM DUNCAN 21 

ing, as Admiral Coloinb lias pointed out, 
marked Nelson, as it marked Napoleon, 
probable Arse in Nelson's case he did 
not asso. oth many of kis equals in 

kis youtk, 't served in a small skip 
during tke ea;ly years of kis life. Tkere 
is no trace of tkis in Duncan. From 
first to last ke was courtly, dignified, at 
kis ease. Wkerever ke went, kis tall, 
kandsome figure attracted attention. 
Wken walking through the streets of 
Chatham as a young man, it is said 
crowds came out of their houses and 
followed him for the mere pleasure of 
looking upon one so comely of form. 

From the Tryal, Duncan passed with 
his cousin to the Shoreham, a small frig- 
ate of twenty guns, none of calibre 
above the nine-pounder. Such craft, 
in those days, did the work which is 
done by our modern protected cruisers. 
They scouted, guarded commerce, and 
looked after the enemy's cruisers. They 
were small and weak ships, and, as their 



22 ADAM DUNCAN 

unfitness for hard work at sea was real- 
ised, were gradually replaced by larger 
vessels of thirty-two guns and thirty-six 
guns, firing a far heavier broadside. 

Early in 1748 the Slwreham put to sea 
to cruise at the entrance of the Channel 
and in the Bay ; in other words, the Bay 
of Biscay. She pretty quickly had 
fighting to do. In January and Feb- 
ruary she captured a Brest ship ; sent 
in her boats at Belleisle to cut out a 
privateer, and failed in this enterprise, 
though her men had the satisfaction of 
destroying the enemy's vessel ; retook a 
French prize, and captured the Valeur, 
a privateer of sixteen guns. In wars 
with France the chops of the Channel 
always swarmed with privateers, Eng- 
lish or French, which preyed upon mer- 
chantmen, but gave a wide berth, when 
they could, to men-of-war. At this 
date the shipping trade of France was 
still considerable and flourishing, so that 
the losses to commerce were generally 



ADAM DUNCAN 23 

very evenly distributed between Eng- 
land and her neighbour. In the spring 
the Shoreham joined Admiral Hawke's 
squadron, and returned with him to 
Plymouth when peace was made. 
There she ran aground, but was got 
off and put out of commission. 

Here Duncan's service with his cousin 
ended. Still a midshipman, he was en- 
tered on board the Centurion, fifty, Cap- 
tain The Hon. Augustus Keppel, in 
1749, whose interest had somehow or 
other been enlisted in his cause, and 
who seems henceforward to have worked 
in every way to advance him. In her 
he made an uneventful cruise to Algiers 
and the Mediterranean, returning in 
1751, and then for three years passed 
his time ashore, as there was nothing 
doing in the navy, and no attempt was 
made to keep up a large force of officers 
and men in time of peace. In 1754, 
however, Keppel once more went to 
sea, as commodore of the North Amer- 



24 ADAM DUNCAN 

ican station, in the Centurion, and seized 
the opportunity of a vacancy in the 
Norwich, which accompanied him, to 
appoint Dmican as acting lieutenant in 
her. The commission was confirmed. 
Thus, at the age of twenty- three, he 
reached that position in the service 
which Nelson, the favourite of fortune, 
attained at eighteen. Duncan, how- 
ever, had no such powerful influence 
behind him as supported the young 
Nelson and carried him rapidly to cap- 
tain's rank. Nelson was a captain at 
twenty, Duncan only at thirty. Nel- 
son obtained his flag as rear-admiral at 
thirty- eight, Duncan not till he was 
fifty- six. 

The cruise of the Centurion, to which 
ship Duncan had been almost at once 
transferred from the Norwich, was on 
this occasion as uninteresting as before, 
except that he must have witnessed 
the disembarkation of the unfort- 
unate General Braddock's force. Ee- 



ADAM DUNCAN 25 

turning to England after Keppel, 
Duncan followed him on board the 
Torbay, seventy-four, which ship cruised 
with Hawke's fleet on the outbreak of 
war with France, blockading Brest and 
Eochefort. She captured many prizes, 
amongst others the French frigate 
Chariot Royal, of thirty- six guns, and 
then returned to Spithead for the court- 
martial on Byng. Through the spring 
and summer of 1757 the Torbay was with 
the Channel fleet ; and she was one of 
the ships which conveyed Sir John 
Mordaunt's unlucky expedition to the 
Isle of Aix. The lion-hearted Wolfe, 
the future conqueror of Quebec, sailed 
with the troops, and urged action in vain 
upon his general. Little was attempted, 
nothing done ; and the nation was 
deeply irritated at a discreditable fail- 
ure. But, before success could be 
achieved in these conjoint expeditions, it 
was necessary to place at the head of 
the soldiers officers who were something 



26 ADAM DUNCAN 

more than hidebound pedants or court 
favourites. Pitt quickly grasped the 
fact. Mordaunt was a serviceable warn- 
ing to him. 

There is little need to dilate on the 
Torbatfs service. What Duncan did 
on board her we can never know : what 
she did we can only learn from the bare 
outlines of her log. Constant slight 
brushes with the enemy's cruisers, the 
loss from time to time of a mast or spar, 
the capture of a hostile cruiser or two, 
and a cutting out expedition now and 
then were the most striking incidents 
of her cruise. A chapter of any of 
Marryat's sea novels will fill in the 
picture. The excitement was varied 
by the explosion of her fore-magazine at 
Spithead on August 27, 1758 ; but both 
Keppel and Duncan escaped with their 
lives, and the ship, it would seem, was 
not very seriously damaged, since she 
was speedily at sea again. Keppel was 
after this placed in charge of a small 



ADAM DUNCAN 27 

conjoint expedition, to capture the 
French settlement of Goree on the west 
coast of Africa. In the attack upon the 
place Duncan, now first lieutenant of 
the Torbaij, received his first and only 
wound in action. He was shot in the 
leg, but the injury was not serious. The 
Torbay returned to England, to service 
with the Channel fleet, as before ; and 
late in 1759 Duncan was promoted com- 
mander and given command of a most 
unpromising craft, the Royal Exchange. 
This vessel was simply an armed mer- 
chantman, and, like the auxiliary 
cruisers of the American line in the 
Spanish- American War, kept her own 
merchant crew on board. Many of her 
men were foreigners, others of the crew 
were boys, all were undisciplined j and 
Duncan got quit of her as speedily as he 
could, and was unemployed for some 
months. 

In 1761 he went back to Keppel, but 
now as flag-captain of the flagship 



28 ADAM DUNCAN 

Valiant, and shared in the successful 
expedition to Belleisle. Then in 1762 
the Valiant sailed with Albemarle and 
Pocock on a conjoint expedition, to try 
a stroke upon Havana, as Spain had 
joined France against us. Duncan per- 
sonally superintended the disembarka- 
tion of the army, and probably directed 
the service of the battery constructed 
ashore by the seamen of the Valiant, 
and known as the " Valiant's battery." 
When a breach was made in the walls 
of the Morro, he led his men through it, 
armed only with a stick, and on the 
surrender of the place burnt two Span- 
ish ships of the line on the stocks and 
took possession of nine others. The ex- 
pedition must have been very profitable 
to a comparatively poor man, as he was, 
since he received £1, 600 as prize money. 
The admiral in command drew no less 
than £122,000, while the unhappy sea- 
men had to be content with £3 14s. lOd. 
each. Although at this period it was 



ADAM DUNCAN 29 

one of the common seaman's grievances 
that, while he risked his life jnst as 
much as his superior officer, he re- 
ceived an absurdly small share of prize 
money , yet his complaint was not re- 
dressed till well on in the present cen- 
tury. 

On her way to Jamaica the Valiant 
made several rich captures, and then, as 
peace was proclaimed, returned home. 
Once more Duncan was sentenced to a 
long period of inactivity ashore, passing 
fourteen uneventful years in the flower 
of his age upon half-pay. In this period 
he spent several years at Bath or Chel- 
tenham, visited Italy, and married a 
wife, Miss Dundas, niece of the future 
Lord Melville, the colleague of the 
second Pitt. 

In 1778 a fresh war with France 
began; and Duncan received command 
of the Monarch, a vessel of the line of 
seventy- four guns, and in her served 
with the Channel fleet. He had the 



30 ADAM DUNCAX 

painful duty of sitting in a court-martial 
which tried his old friend and superior, 
Keppel, for a lamentably inconclusive 
battle in the Channel. The misfortune 
arose really from the absurd fighting 
orders of the time, which compelled 
squadrons to form in line of battle for 
action, and allowed an enemy to get 
away while they were forming. Dun- 
can's action in after life at Camperdown 
showed that he, at least, could disdain 
this pedantry. Keppel was acquitted 
triumphantly ; and then his second in 
command, Palliser, was tried for miscon- 
duct, and also cleared. 

At this date the British navy was 
badly handled and in want of a great 
admiral. Duncan was there ; but per- 
haps his high capacity was as yet un- 
known, and his connection with Keppel, 
a strong "Whig, may have stood him in 
bad stead with a furiously partisan Tory 
ministry. Commands were handed over 
to aged or mediocre officers, with the 



ADAM DUNCAN 31 

most indifferent result. Howe, a good, 
if not superlative, admiral, was driven in 
disgust from his command. Hood, by 
far the best of the men high up in the 
navy, and really a great and capable 
leader, was not afforded an opening. 
Rodney, who was inferior in most re- 
spects to Hood, but who could deal with 
lazy subordinates in the masterful fashion 
of St. Vincent, was the one exception 
amongst the admirals employed from 
1778 to 1782, and at least won battles. 
Yet even he did not follow up his one 
great victory, as a Nelson, a Hood, or a 
Duncan, would have followed it up. The 
consequences of this failure to prefer 
merit to rank and age were disastrous to 
the nation. There is reason to think 
that the revolted colonies could easily 
have been subdued, had the British 
forces on sea and land been properly 
handled, and that Spain and Holland, 
perhaps even France, would never then 
have joined against us in the war. It is 



32 ADAM DUNCAK 

all the more melancholy to reflect that 
there were plenty of capable officers in 
the navy, had the rnlers of this country 
cared to take the trouble to search for 
merit and capacity. 

Under an aged and an ailing admiral 
the Monarch cruised with the Channel 
fleet, and in the summer of 1779 with 
this fleet ran from a combined French 
and Spanish Armada. The sight filled 
two officers, at least, in the British fleet, 
with indignation. Jervis, the future 
Lord St. Vincent, and Duncan both 
raged inwardly ; and it is possible that, 
had either of them been in command, the 
decisive battle of the war would have 
been fought then and there. But the 
odds were grievously heavy, — thirty- 
eight ships against sixty-six, a far greater 
disproportion than any British admiral 
in recent times has confronted with suc- 
cess. It was expected that the allied 
fleet would cover the passage of an army 
of invasion, so that the peril to England 



ADAM DOTCAN 33 

was extreme. But, strangely enough, it 
did nothing except cruise aimlessly for 
a few days in the Channel, and then dis- 
perse. 

After this dismal experience the Mon- 
arch went out with Bodney to Gibraltar, 
and with him took part in the complete 
defeat of a Spanish squadron under Lan- 
gara, on January 16, 1780. Duncan was 
very hotly engaged with three of the 
enemy's ships of the line ; and one of the 
three struck to him, but from the heavy 
sea could not be secured, and escaped. 
In this action, of eleven Spanish ships of 
the line, four were taken, four blown up, 
sunk, or driven ashore, and only three 
escaped. But then as now the Spaniards 
were a contemptible enemy at sea j and 
it was commonly said, " A Spanish ship 
chased is a Spanish ship taken," in so 
little respect was the Spanish navy held 
by British seamen. 

From the relief of Gibraltar, for which 
purpose Bodney had been sent out, Dun- 



34 ADAM DUNCAN 

can in the Monarch returned to Channel 
service ; but presently, his ship being 
ordered off to the unhealthy station of 
the West Indies, where twenty years 
before his constitution had been griev- 
ously impaired, and his doctor advising 
him under no circumstances to return to 
the tropics, he resigned his command, 
and was unemployed for nearly a year. 
It is clear that the admiralty did not re- 
gard his action with disfavour, since he 
was in March, 1782, appointed to a 
better vessel than the Monarch, the ship 
of the line Blenheim, of ninety guns. In 
her he sailed with Howe's fleet to the 
second relief of Gibraltar, now closely 
pressed and in sore straits. The work 
of escorting out a large convoy of slow- 
sailing victuallers and transports Howe 
managed admirably. 

On the fleet's return, upon October 
20, in the neighbourhood of Cape Tra- 
falgar, — soon to be far more famous, — 
there was a sharp brush with a supe- 



ADAM DUNCAN 35 

rior Franco-Spanish squadron, the Yictory 
on this day, as twenty-three years later, 
carrying the flag of the British com- 
mander-in-chief. The Blenheim was one 
of the ships most hotly engaged, and suf- 
fered some loss. On her return to Eng- 
land she was ordered out to the West 
Indies $ and Duncan quitted her, receiv- 
ing at the time a letter of the most com- 
plimentary tone from Howe. He then 
was appointed to the Foudroyant, a still 
finer ship, but only for a few weeks, as 
after the conclusion of peace in January, 
1783, she was paid off. He passed from 
her to the Portsmouth guardship Edgar, 
which he commanded through three un- 
eventful years, and then in the autumn 
of 1787 was promoted rear-admiral. 

It will not have escaped the reader 
that, though Duncan served well and 
faithfully through this his third war, no 
great exploit comparable with Nelson's 
wearing from the line at St. Vincent 
stands against his name. But, if the facts 



36 ADAM DUNCAN 

are carefully scrutinised, it will be found 
that he was singularly unfortunate in 
his lack of opportunities. No real 
chance of making a name came to him. 
The government of the day was not 
quick to discern and employ the most 
enterprising men in the navy. No 
' ' organiser of victory ' ' in the shape of 
Lord Spencer had yet revealed himself, 
to rise above seniority. And, if the 
administration of the navy had been run 
upon the same lines during the final 
struggle with France, it is probable that 
Nelson would have come down to us 
as nothing more than a dashing junior 
officer. From 1787 to 1795, the third 
year of the war with France, Duncan 
remained on land unemployed, rising 
automatically by seniority in the inter- 
val from rear-admiral to vice-admiral. 
The only fact which is recorded of him 
in this interval is that he intervened in 
a riot in Edinburgh to protect his wife's 
mother, Mrs. Dundas, who from the 



ADAM DUNCAN 37 

close connection of the Dundas family 
with Pitt's Tory government was spe- 
cially obnoxious to the Scotch Eadicals. 
On this occasion Duncan had his little 
finger badly broken. When war with 
France began in 1793, he could not 
obtain a command, in spite of strenuous 
efforts which he is known to have made 
and in spite of his marriage relations 
with the close friend of the prime min- 
ister, which were of more importance, 
perhaps, in those days than the su- 
premest capacity where place was an 
object. 

Fortunately for this country, at the 
close of 1794 Lord Spencer succeeded 
Lord Chatham as first lord of the ad- 
miralty. The six years through which 
this great man had the direction of our 
navy are amongst the most splendid in 
British history. He made it his task to 
seek out and employ talent. Sir John 
Jervis was sent out to the Mediterra- 
nean under him ; under him Nelson was 



38 ADAM DUNCAN 

given his first independent command, 
which issued in the magnificent vic- 
tory of the Nile j under him Duncan 
was at last appointed to the North Sea 
fleet. " What can be the reason/' he is 
said to have asked, "that 'KeppePs Dun- 
can ' has never been brought forward ? " 
As there was no answer to this question 
except the explanation that Duncan's 
merits had been overlooked, the ad- 
miral was in February, 1795, given 
charge of the North Sea fleet, the third 
station in point of importance, the other 
two being the Mediterranean and the 
Channel. 

The circumstances which required the 
presence of a strong squadron in the 
North Sea were these. In the course 
of 1794 Holland had been conquered 
by the French troops, the Prince of 
Orange driven from his dominions, a dis- 
orderly republic of the French type 
under French protection established 
in the country, and the Dutch navy 



ADAM DOTCAN 39 

added to the forces of France. As this 
navy included thirty-seven ships of the 
line — all, it is true, of small size — and 
forty-four frigates, transferred from the 
coalition against France to the new- 
French coalition against England, this 
was a serious embarrassment and danger. 
Three of the Dutch warships were seized 
in British ports on the outbreak of war 
with Holland. Most of the others were 
concentrated in the Texel, the deeper of 
the entrances to the Zuyder Zee. But 
as yet only three or four of the Dutch 
ships of the line were in a condition to 
take the sea. It was Duncan's task to 
watch these ships closely and prevent 
their leaving port, to blockade the Dutch 
coast and cut off all the Dutch trade. 
Being a nation which subsisted upon 
commerce, the Hollanders might be 
brought to book by this method of press- 
ure. Duncan sailed for his station in 
the Venerable, seventy- four, in February. 
He had a very scratch force under his 



40 ADAM DUNCAN 

orders. The Venerable was a vessel 
built for war ; but two of his ships of 
the line, of fifty-six and fifty-four guns 
respectively, were converted East India- 
men, weak in scantling, not stoutly tim- 
bered, and none too seaworthy. They 
did not, however, draw much water j and 
light draught was a prime necessity for 
operations in the shallows of the Dutch 
coast. Besides these unpromising craft, 
he had one sixty-four-gun ship, two 
frigates, and some luggers and cutters. 
His squadron was constantly changing ; 
for, whenever vessels were required for 
other stations or for convoy duty, they 
were withdrawn from his command of 
necessity, inasmuch as the British navy 
was now sorely taxed by the struggle. 
He was stripped of frigates ; yet the 
spirit of Nelson in 1805 — " I am not 
come forth to find difficulties, but to re- 
move them ' ? — breathed in his heart, 
and, though he may at times have remon- 
strated, he never fretted. In the summer 



ADAM DUNCAN 41 

he was re-enforced by a Russian fleet of 
twelve sail of the line and six frigates, 
under Vice- Admiral Hanikov and Rear- 
Admirals Makarov and Tate. Makarov 
was an ancestor of the distinguished 
Russian admiral of our own day. Tate 
was an Englishman, of whom many 
were at this date to be found in the Rus- 
sian fleet. Admiral Hanikov was placed 
under Duncan's orders, nominally ; but 
the situation was painful and undig- 
nified for the British commander-in- 
chief, and demanded all his tact. Here 
was he, with a promiscuous collection 
of British odds and ends, while a power- 
ful and homogeneous Russian force 
was subordinated to him. Compared 
with their ships, his cut a lamentable 
figure. It is true that the battle effi- 
ciency of the Russians at this date was 
by no means high, and that, poor though 
the British ships might look, they had 
plenty of fight in them, as was proved 
at Camperdown. The Russian admiral, 



42 ADAM DUNCAN 

though he seems to have been an excel- 
lent and tactful officer at the bottom, 
had to stand a good deal on his dignity 
to satisfy the Empress Catherine and ap- 
pease such opinion as existed in Eussia. 
Hence no end of trouble about such pal- 
try matters as salutes and who should 
fire the morning gun. Meantime there 
were reports that the Dutch were on the 
eve of putting to sea, though their fleet 
was known to be very ill-manned. 

Yet Duncan, whose soul was above 
petty annoyances, whose one thought 
was the service of his country, had his 
whole heart in his work, distasteful 
though it might seem. The proof of it 
was in the fact that he declined the 
most magnificent command that the ad- 
miralty had to offer him, — that of the 
Mediterranean fleet. It was, perhaps, a 
misfortune both for himself and for his 
country that he arrived at this decision ; 
yet few will blame him for resolving to 
carry through the work that he had in 



ADAM DUKCAN 43 

hand. But in the Mediterranean the 
chances of distinction were innumerable, 
the harvest of glory to be reaped ex- 
ceedingly rich. With his leadership, 
we may confidently assert, St. Vincent 
would have been afar more decisive battle 
than it actually was. Still, Jervis, who 
ultimately went out and whose claims 
were pressed by Duncan himself, was 
certainly the second best of the senior 
officers in the navy j and he worked 
wonders. 

Duncan was thorough in his work. 
Insufficient attention has been directed 
to the skill and seamanship which 
kept poor, badly manned ships close up 
to the enemy's ports whenever the wind 
blew from the east. The blockade of 
Brest about this time was conducted in 
a very half-hearted manner by the Chan- 
nel fleet, which always had the pick of 
the warships in home waters. But Dun- 
can in his command displayed all the 
daring which two years later he evinced 



44 ADAM DUNCAN 

in his attack at Carnperdown. And the 
greatness of the performance is enhanced 
by the fact that the commander-in-chief 
was not in the flower of age, when bold 
and decided action comes most naturally 
to men. He was already old, and his con- 
stitution had been wrecked by the ter- 
rible climate of the West Indies. 

In August, during one of Duncan's 
absences from his station, to water and 
refit his ships, the Dutch put to sea. 
They were seen and watched by the 
daring little lugger Spider; and it was 
not long before their enemies, in the 
shape of the British and Eussian fleets, 
were after them. The sortie, however, 
appears to have been simply for exer- 
cise ; and they returned to port before 
they could be brought to battle. But 
their movements unquestionably made 
the British government very anxious ; 
and urgent appeals were sent out from 
Lord Spencer to Duncan to strike a hard 
blow as soon as possible against them. 



ADAM DUNCAN 45 

It is a startling fact, which illustrates 
the low quality of the British ships un- 
der Duncan, that on this occasion the 
Russians, though uncoppered and foul, 
sailed better than their allies. 

In October of this year and upon Dun- 
can's station occurred a serious mutiny, 
which was a premonitory symptom of 
the extreme discontent existing in the 
lower ranks of the navy. The battle- 
ship Defiance was lying in Leith Roads, 
when on October 18, 1795, a party of 
seamen rose, flung round-shot about be- 
tween decks, — a method of showing dis- 
content, — and seized the ship. The 
foremost guns were loaded and pointed 
aft towards the officers through loop- 
holes in a barricade of hammocks. The 
captain, Sir George Home, hearing what 
had happened, came off from the shore, 
followed by an armed party from the 
ship of the line Asia in the latter' s boats. 
He was allowed to come on board ; but 
the armed party were warned off, and 



46 ADAM DUNCAN 

muskets fired at them through the port- 
holes. The crew broke into the stew- 
ard's room to get at the grog, and among 
other mutinous acts snapped a pistol at 
a steward's mate. A letter was written 
to the captain, complaining that the men 
were kept on board like convicts, that 
they had no liberty, that their grog was 
heavily watered, and so forth. 

They first refused to admit any marines 
on board, — seemingly there were none 
in the ship when the mutiny broke 
out, — and then, with a strong tincture 
of sedition, suggested that certain of the 
men who were "Boyalists" should be 
removed when the marines did come on 
board. They asserted that they were 
flogged by the officers with u bosun' s- 
mates' canes," and had no hope of 
redress for their wrongs from the quar- 
ter-deck. They wound up by calling 
themselves a " dutiful ship's company 
upon honourable terms." 

Two captains went on board to inquire 



ADAM DUNCAN 47 

into these grievances, and with the aid 
of the ship's officers and the loyal 
amongst the crew seized eight of the 
ringleaders. As the eight, however, 
were being led over the side to go on 
board the Asia, the mutiny broke out 
again ; and the prisoners had to be re- 
leased. Next day troops arrived and 
forced their way into the shij), though 
guns were pointed at the boats in which 
they came, and shot thrown into them, 
to sink them. Finally, fifteen of the 
mutineers were brought to trial before a 
court-martial, and nine sentenced to be 
hanged, five to receive three hundred 
lashes with the cat-of-nine-tails, and one 
one hundred lashes. That the discon- 
tent was not confined to the North Sea 
fleet was proved by the fact that almost 
simultaneously there were similar out- 
breaks in the Windsor Castle, Terrible, and 
Culloden on the Mediterranean station. 
The truth was that the seamen were in 
many respects extremely badly used j and 



48 ADAM DUNCAN 

the French ideas of "liberty, equality, 
and fraternity," fermenting in many 
men's minds, accentuated the sense of 
exasperation. Some seasonable reforms 
might at this period have averted further 
mischief $ but, unhappily, Lord Spencer 
and the admiralty board were blind to 
this internal danger. That Duncan real^ 
ised the many wrongs of the seaman was 
clearly shown by his subsequent action 
in 1797. He is known to have made 
many representations on their behalf in 
his private correspondence with Lord 
Spencer, which unhappily has perished, 
though possibly even he did not yet 
understand how threatening the situa- 
tion was becoming. In the light of 
these earlier mutinies, however, in which 
many of the grievances afterwards put 
forward in the great rising of 1797 were 
pressed upon the notice of the authori- 
ties, it is impossible to pretend, as have 
some of the historians, that the great 
explosion came suddenly and without 
warning. 



ADAM DUNCAN 49 

The winter of 1795 and the early 
months of 1796 passed in the monoto- 
nous blockade of the Texel, Duncan's 
mainstay still remaining, much to his 
indignation, the Eussian fleet. He com- 
plains, and not without reason, that he 
is the first British admiral that ever was 
ordered on service with foreigners only. 
The worst of it was that Eussian seaman- 
ship was hardly equal to the severe trial 
of winter cruising. Indeed, a good many 
British officers roundly declared that this 
country could have done just as well 
without the Eussians, and thus have 
saved no small amount of money, since 
we had, by the terms of our military un- 
derstanding with Catherine, to victual 
the eight thousand Eussian seamen of 
the fleet and to keep the eighteen ships 
in good order. 

In the autumn of 1796 the position 
grew more dangerous for England. The 
first object of the French in conquering 
Holland was to facilitate the invasion 



50 ADAM DUNCAN 

of England. It is doubtful whether the 
cooler heads across the Channel believed 
in such a scheme, but the fiery Hoche 
certainly did. The first blow was to be 
struck at Ireland, with which country 
the French authorities maintained con- 
stant relations and of whose disloyalty 
they had no substantial doubts. Expe- 
ditions were simultaneously to be directed 
upon that island from the Texel and 
from Brest. Upon the shore of the 
Channel the equipment of that flotilla 
of invasion began, which five years later 
was to claim Nelson's attention. The 
Spanish navy was added by alliance to 
the strength of France and Holland. 
The danger of the British position was 
aggravated by a series of bad harvests at 
home, which led the privy council in the 
prevailing scarcity to call upon English- 
men to put their households on an allow- 
ance of one quartern loaf a head a week, 
and by a great rise in prices, which bore 
cruelly upon the poor. The ominous cry 



ADAM DUNCAN 51 

of "Bread and peace!" was heard in 
the streets. 

Anxious to strike a heavy blow at 
and to disable one at least of their 
enemies, the British government de- 
cided upon an attack on the Island of 
Texel and an attempt to destroy the 
Dutch fleet with fire-ships. It was 
known that the Dutch were extremely 
discontented with their new masters, and 
that the Dutch navy was by no means 
devoted to France. Duncan, however, 
when the scheme was broached to him, 
opposed it. To effect anything con- 
siderable, a large body of troops must 
necessarily have been employed ; and to 
disembark and re-embark them upon 
a storm-swept, harbourless coast, in 
the face of a vigilant enemy, during 
the winter months, was a very dan- 
gerous enterprise. Lord Spencer re- 
minded the admiral, in words which 
anticipate his instructions to Nelson 
before the Nile campaign, of the 



52 ADAM DUNCAN 

fact that risks must be run to achieve 
great success, and that, if there was fail- 
ure, it would lie at the doors of the 
admiralty. This was proper, generous, 
and high-spirited counsel to give ; and 
no man could be the worse for such a 
reminder. Yet Duncan's objections 
were based upon the exact knowledge 
which the seaman possesses, and events 
proved that he was right. He gave the 
most loyal and hearty support to the 
scheme of the ministry ; yet it miscar- 
ried, not through any fault of his, but 
through the inevitable malice of cir- 
cumstances. The failure led him to 
fear that the ministry would suspect he 
had acted half-heartedly, and thus pained 
him the more. He tendered his resigna- 
tion, but it was very rightly refused. 

On this expedition he gave out to his 
fleet a plan of battle in case he found 
it practicable to go in and attack the 
Dutch in the Texel. The plan reveals 
the tactician behind the man of courage 



ADAM DUNCAN 53 

and of action. Duncan is known to 
have studied the work of that well-known 
writer upon tactics, Clerk of Eldin ; for 
he was not one of those foolish people 
who believed that a commander-in-chiefs 
one duty in the presence of an enemy 
was to go at him, no matter how. He 
saw that there was a right and a wrong 
way of going at the enemy. His instruc- 
tions provided for anchoring his own 
ships by the stern, — a manoeuvre of 
which Nelson availed himself at the 
Nile and which may have been sug- 
gested to him by Duncan's dispositions. 
It enabled any ship engaged to move 
forwards or backwards by the simple 
expedient of shortening in or paying out 
— veering, that is to say — cable. But 
what differentiates Duncan's plan from 
Nelson's is that Duncan does not seem 
to contemplate the concentration of his 
whole force upon a detail of the enemy 
and of so crushing his adversary piece- 
meal. The superior generalship and 



54 ADAM DUNCAN 

audacity of Nelson enabled him to im- 
prove upon Duncan's plan. 

For the rest, Duncan, like Nelson, left 
his captains a free hand in matters of 
detail. Like Nelson, he had frequent 
interviews with them, and took care that 
they should be saturated with his ideas. 
He does not, however, appear to have 
entertained as much as did his great 
junior, who devoted no small part of 
his income to hospitality in the fleet. 
Duncan lived, says Captain Hotham 
who served under him, in a very fru- 
gal manner, and kept little state. Hav- 
ing a family dependent upon him and 
not being a rich man, it was want of 
money, and not any want of generosity 
in his disposition, that compelled him 
to restrict his entertainments. He was, 
however, of a retiring disposition by 
nature. 

After this unsuccessful expedition, 
Lord Spencer suggested that it would 
be best during the severe winter weather 



ADAM DUNCAN 55 

for the main body of the fleet to lie at 
Yarmouth, which was distant about one 
hundred and twenty-five miles from the 
Texel, leaving only light ships, such as 
cutters and frigates, to watch the pro- 
ceedings of the enemy, who could now 
count upon a force of twenty-one ships 
of the line. The French plan of cam- 
paign might be suspected to be this : 
Two or more of the many blockaded 
squadrons were to force their way to 
sea, or seize an opportunity when the 
blockading fleets were refitting or 
driven off their station by gales. The 
French squadrons would then unite at 
some prearranged rendezvous, and fall 
upon one of the blockading British fleets 
before it could be warned. The British 
plan was to frustrate such a scheme by 
rendering it impossible for any of the 
blockaded fleets to put to sea without 
being promptly brought to action or 
hotly and closely pursued. The pieces on 
the chess board — that is to say, the vari- 



56 ADAM DUNCAN 

ous battle squadrons — are thus given by 
Admiral Colomb for the year 1796. 
They varied somewhat from day to day. 



France, Holland, England and 

and Spain. Russia. 

Battleships. Battleships. 

26 
29 
2 
31 
20 
5 



Toulon 15 North Sea . . . 

Cartagena ... 18 Channel . . . 

Cadiz 3 Irish coast . . 

Ferrol 26 Mediterranean . 

Guarnizo .... 7 West Indies . . 

Brest 21 North America 

Texel 21 The Cape . . . 

Newfoundland . . 7 India 

Havana 18 

136 



5 

126 



Thus, the enemy had a very consider- 
able advantage in numbers, though this 
was to a great extent neutralised by the 
divided commands and manifold jealous- 
ies which are weaknesses inseparable 
from an alliance of three powers. 

For the escape of the Dutch fleet in 
the Texel an east wind was a necessity 
in days when shirks had to rely entirely 



ADAM DUNCAN 57 

upon sail power. Consequently, when 
the wind was from the west, the British 
blockade could he safely relaxed. The 
Dutch anxiously watched the weather- 
cock 5 but, when the British fleet was 
absent, the wind blew steadily from 
the west, and, when the wind was in 
the east, Duncan was always off the 
anchorage. At the close of the year, 
however, a French expedition did slip 
out of Brest harbour, owing to the care- 
less watch maintained by Bridport in 
the Channel ; and, though it achieved 
nothing, we had to thank fogs and bad 
weather, and the chapter of accidents 
generally, and not any acumen on the 
part of the admiral in charge of the 
Channel fleet. Moreover, the expedition 
caused very great uneasiness ; for the dis- 
content of Ireland was perfectly well 
known in London, and, had any consid- 
erable French force landed there, the 
consequences might have been most dis- 
astrous. 



58 ADAM DUKCAN 

All through the winter of 1796-97 
this menace of invasion was maintained 
by the enemy. Large forces were held 
ready at Brest, at Dunkirk, and at the 
Texel. The equipment of a flotilla of 
long boats was pushed steadily forward 
by the French authorities, and from 
time to time there were alarms that the 
enemy had put to sea. Great prepara- 
tions were made in England to meet the 
invader on his landing, should he escape 
the vigilance of our fleets. Every one 
armed and drilled in the militia, yeo- 
manry, or volunteers. Women and 
children — and some timorous men — 
removed from the eastern and southern 
seaboard, to be safe when the enemy 
came at last. 

In March there was a report that the 
Dutch were out, and the British fleet at 
once hurried towards the Texel to meet 
it. Duncan had been considerably re- 
enforced and could now muster thirteen 
ships of the liue, fourteen frigates, and 



ADAM DUNCAN 59 

nineteen small craft, besides three Eus- 
sian battleships and five Eussian frig- 
ates. Unfortunately, the report proved 
groundless : the Dutch fleet never moved. 
The wind came round from the east to 
the west, and Duncan was recalled to 
Yarmouth. 

It was after this fruitless voyage that 
the great mutiny in the British fleet 
began. In March, Lord Howe, who was 
always regarded by the seamen as their 
trustiest friend, received several peti- 
tions from ships in the Channel fleet, 
urging the need of an increase in the 
seaman's pay, as, owing to the great rise 
in the price of food and of the necessa- 
ries of life which had occurred since the 
outbreak of war, both the seamen them- 
selves and their wives and families were 
in terrible penury. They bitterly com- 
plained that, while the pay of soldiers 
and militia had been augmented, the 
royal navy was forgotten. They pro- 
tested that they were actuated by no 



60 ADAM DUNCAN 

spirit of sedition or disaffection, but by 
want. Unhappily, Howe paid no atten- 
tion to these petitions ; and the next 
incident was that the Channel fleet at 
Spithead refused to put to sea. The 
admiralty were informed by Lord Brid- 
port that it was impossible to use vig- 
orous measures against the mutineers, 
inasmuch as the whole fleet was con- 
cerned. 

The word "mutiny" is, perhaps, an 
anomaly as applied to the state of things 
now existing in the British fleet, since 
u mutiny" has associations of violence 5 
but none as yet was shown to the officers. 
The men seem to have despaired of 
obtaining redress for their grievances by 
any other method than the one adopted. 
They protested their loyalty to the 
crown at every juncture, and there is 
no reason to doubt their protests. A 
petition was now laid before the admi- 
ralty from the seamen, asking for certain 
definite reforms. It opened with the 



ADAM DUNCAN 61 

sanguine anticipation that the admiralty 
and nation would 

acknowledge our worth and good services both 
in the American war and this, for which good 
services your lordship's petitioners do unani- 
mously agree in opinion that their truth to the 
nation and laborious industry in defence of their 
king and country deserve some better en- 
couragement than they meet with at present. 

The demands were as follows (they are 
given in Italics to distinguish them from 
the author's comment) : — 

1. Wages to be raised. This was sim- 
ple justice, when the soldiers' pay had 
been increased, and the price of all 
necessities had greatly advanced. 

2. Provisions to be of better quality and 
to be supplied in full weight, sixteen ounces to 
the pound ; bread, and not flour, to be issued 
in port, and vegetables to be supplied. It 
was a great grievance that meat was 
only served out fourteen ounces to the 
pound, the other two ounces by a ser- 
vice custom having become the purser's 



62 ADAM DUNCAN 

perquisite. Cheese dwindled down to 
eleven and two-thirds ounces to the 
pound. This caused soreness, and led 
the men to think they were cheated by 
their officers. It was not unreasonable 
to ask for fresh bread and vegetables, 
when circumstances rendered their sup- 
ply possible. Vegetables were most nec- 
essary to health on long cruises. 

3. The sick to be better attended to, and 
their necessaries not to be embezzled by the 
surgeons. Too often the sick and 
wounded were left to rot or starve. A 
report dated March 25, 1797, by the 
surgeon of the depot-ship and flagship 
at the Nore, the Sandivich, gives a good 
idea of the state of things prevailing. 
An " infectious complaint, " probably 
typhus, had broken out on board. The 
men seized by this complaint, the report 
proceeds, ' ' are dirty, almost naked, and 
in general without beds. " It is of little 
avail to prescribe medicines to " un- 
happy sufferers who are so bare of com- 



ADAM DUNCAN 63 

mon necessaries and compelled to mix 
with the throng by lying on the decks. ' ' 
The number on board was fifteen or six- 
teen hundred, when there was room, 
perhaps, for, at the outside, a thousand 
men. The authorities were warned that, 
if the number was not lessened, many 
must fall victims to contagion and 
disease, and that the situation was re- 
plete with anxiety. This was only three 
weeks before the mutiny began. 

4. Liberty on shore to be given, when 
liossible. Generally speaking, the men 
were confined on board, when in port, 
for fear of desertion ; and for years they 
might never set eyes on their wives and 
families and homes. 

5. The wounded to receive pay till they 
recovered or were discharged. Their pay 
was stopped when in hospital. In fact, 
men were punished for their sufferings 
m their country's service. 

6. These and other grievances to be re- 
dressed. Many complaints were made 



64 ADAM DUNCAN 

by the crews of tyranny and brutality 
on the part of individual officers. The 
tales of one captain's doings, who was 
strenuously denounced for his ill-treat- 
ment of his men, recall Smollett's Cap- 
tain Oakum. Another committed sui- 
cide because the admiralty would not 
receive him. Investigation was after- 
wards made as to the justice of these 
complaints $ and, while some were capri- 
cious and unjustifiable, the great major- 
ity were ascertained to have foundation. 
The demands of the seamen were so 
reasonable, the sympathy of the nation 
was, on the whole, so evident, the best 
officers in the navy so clearly realised 
reform was necessary, and the posi- 
tion of the country robbed of its right 
arm, the fleet, was so perilous, that the 
admiralty granted the petition and a free 
pardon to all that had been concerned in 
the mutiny. The movement had rapidly 
spread from Spithead to Plymouth, the 
Nore and the North Sea fleet. But, 



ADAM DUNCAN 65 

though the petition was granted, it was 
not acted upon at once. Parliament 
did not immediately vote the sums re- 
quired for the increase in pay and in the 
allowance of provisions. Short weight 
of meat and cheese was still served out. 
The men, distrustful and irritated at the 
delay, began to think they were being 
trifled with. At the end of April and 
early in May, 1797, there was an alarm- 
ing recrudescence of the mutiny. Sev- 
eral ships belonging to Duncan's fleet 
were at the Nore ; and on May 2 four of 
these hoisted the red flag, sent many of 
their officers ashore, and anchored across 
the river Thames, where they began a 
quasi-blockade of the port of London. 
At Yarmouth, where the rest of the 
North Sea fleet was lying, it will be seen 
that there was further trouble. 

From this day dates the mutiny at 
the Nore, which was a far more danger- 
ous affair than the original Spithead 
mutiny. The ships concerned in it 



66 ADAM DUNCAN 

were, with few exceptions, units in 
Duncan's fleet. The men composing 
their crews had been hurriedly scraped 
together, were strange to their officers 
and to discipline, and included many 
educated persons amongst their number, 
who would naturally feel and resent the 
brutalities of the service more than the 
rough hands from the merchant service. 
They were for these reasons more prone 
to insubordination and readier to go to 
extreme lengths when mutiny showed 
itself. On April 30 there was an out- 
break in Duncan's own flagship, the 
Venerable, then lying in Yarmouth 
Eoads. Her crew assembled on the 
forecastle and in the shrouds, and sud- 
denly gave three cheers. The Nassau 
at once followed her example. Duncan, 
in the Venerable, acted with the most 
admirable tact and firmness. He mus- 
tered the officers. The marines — who 
rarely or never made common cause 
with the seamen, and who, even to-day, 



ADAM DUNCAN 67 

fraternise rather with the stoker than 
the bluejacket proper, so enduring are 
service traditions of hostility — fell in 
under arms. Then he went forward 
among the mutineers. His noble and 
splendid appearance, his known affec- 
tion for and sympathy with the common 
seaman, and the simple eloquence with 
which he appealed to every great motive 
in his men had great influence with 
them. He refused to permit his ad- 
miral's flag to be lowered and replaced 
by the red standard of revolt. He was 
ready, too, to go to extremes j for it was 
with difficulty that his chaplain re- 
strained him from cutting down an in- 
solent mutineer on the spot. Five ring- 
leaders were seized and brought aft to 
him on the quarter-deck, in the presence 
of the whole crew. He sternly rebuked 
them, showed them the wickedness of 
mutiny at such an hour, and then par- 
doned them. 
Most admirals of the day would have 



68 ADAM DUNCAN 

court- mar tialled them and hanged them, 
or at least have taken care that they 
were flogged within an inch of their 
lives. Accordingly, Duncan has been 
censured for his mildness. But so 
strong and so deep was the current 
of mutiny that violent repression at 
this juncture was altogether inexpedient 
and impossible.* Nor was this gener- 
ous humanity fruitless. Through the 
trials of May and early June the Vener- 
able 1 s crew stood by their admiral, and, 
so doing, rendered the greatest of ser- 
vices to their country. After genera- 
tions cannot indorse the attacks made 
upon Duncan in his own time. Eather, 
he seems in his deep sympathy with his 

* An attempt at a court-martial on a muti- 
nous seaman led to the great outbreak of May 
12 at the Nore. Because at a later date Lord 
St. Vincent was able by the exercise of extreme 
severity to stamp out the mutinous spirit in 
the Mediterranean fleet, it by no means follows 
that similar measures would have had a like re- 
sult in the North Sea fleet. 



ADAM DUNCAN 69 

men and tenderness for them, and in his 
aversion to savage punishment, to have 
been ahead of his age, — ahead of such 
great admirals as Hood and Jervis and 
even Nelson. 

In the Nassau the mutiny was tempo- 
rarily got under. It may be noted that 
an address of this ship's company sheds 
light upon the maladministration which 
produced the mutiny. It states that 
nineteen months' wages were due, and 
that the seamen were " in want of almost 
every article of wearing apparel that 
may conduce to render our lives comfort- 
able in this situation of life." A few 
days later the Standard rose, but by ex- 
postulation was recalled to loyalty. To 
stem the tide of insubordination, Dun- 
can made the circuit of his ships, going 
on board each, addressing the crew, and 
examining into grievances. Of the 
speeches which he delivered, only one 
remains, addressed to the crew of the 
Venerable; and, as it illustrates the ad- 



70 ADAM DUNCAN 

miral's character, the most striking pas- 
sages in it deserve repetition; — 

My lads, surrounded as Britain is with ene- 
mies, still we have nothing to fear if the fleet 
strictly adheres to its former character, which 
never shone Avith more brightness than dur- 
ing this war. . . . The regard we owe our coun- 
try and our families, I think, should animate us 
to exert ourselves in a particular manner, and 
not flinch at the appearance of danger. You 
see me now grown gray with fifty-one years' 
service. In every ship I have had the honour 
to command I have endeavoured to do justice 
both to the public and the men I commanded, 
and have often been flattered with particular 
marks of their regard ; and I still hope, in spite 
of all that has happened, this ship's company 
have not lost their confidence in me. Both my 
officers and I are always ready to redress any 
supposed grievances, when asked in a proper 
manner. 

In all my service I have maintained my au- 
thority, which I will not easily part with. I 
shall take this opportunity of mentioning a 
thing that has too often offended my ears in 
this ship. I mean the profane oaths, and I will 
say blasphemy, that too much prevails,— I really 
believe often without meaning. But, if there is 
a God,— and everything round us shows it,— we 
ought to pay Him more respect. In the day of 



ADAM DUNCAN 71 

trouble the most abandoned are generally the 
first to cry for assistance and relief to that God 
Whose name they are daily taking in vain. 
With what confidence they expect it, they 
know best. I am always happy to see you 
cheerful and at play, but the noise and tumult 
that seems at that time to prevail amongst you 
looks more like a lawless set of men than a 
well-disposed ship's company. 

I hope you will attend to this; and, if what I 
have said makes any impression, I shall expect 
to see it by much alertness in doing your duty 
and in obedience to your officers. God bless 
you all ; and may He always have us under His 
gracious protection and make us better men! 

The men are said to have been deeply 
moved — some even to tears — by this 
noble appeal. They responded with a 
letter from the ship's company, protest- 
ing their sorrow at what had happened, 
asking the admiral — who, as they said, 
had proved to them a father — for his par- 
don, assuring him of their future obedi- 
ence and promising that they would fight 
to the last if laid alongside the enemy. 
Nor were these idle words. The Ven- 
erable 1 s crew in the weeks that followed 



72 ADAM DUNCAN 

identified themselves with one of the 
most heroic deeds that stand in the brill- 
iant records of the British navy, and 
finally effaced the stain of April 30 by 
their surpassing devotion. 

Yet there were more outbreaks in the 
fleet. On May 3, in the House of Lords, 
the Duke of Bedford made a speech, 
which under the circumstances can only 
be described as a wicked one, suggesting 
that the gOA^ernment was not going to 
carry out its promises to the seamen j and 
an injudicious order was issued about the 
same time by the admiralty, urging up- 
on captains that the strictest discipline 
should be maintained, and that at the 
smallest show of mutiny the ringleaders 
should be seized and brought to punish- 
ment. There was at once a fresh out- 
break at Portsmouth. At the Nore the 
ships, which had for a week been pass- 
ably obedient, rose again on May 12 j and 
on the 13th, at Yarmouth, the Adamant 
mutinied. In conformity with his custom, 



ADAM DUNCAN 73 

Duncan went on board, and addressed 
the crew. He told them that he did not 
care a rap for any violence they pur- 
posed against him, and that, though he 
preferred to be loved rather than feared, 
he would with his own hand kill any 
one who showed himself insubordinate. 
Towering head and shoulders above 
them, he turned to them, and asked if 
any man dared to challenge his author- 
ity. A man did venture to do so, when 
Duncan, whose enormous strength was 
famous, seized him by the scruff of the 
neck and held him with one arm, dang- 
ling over the ship's side, while he bade 
the crew look at the fellow who would 
depose him from his command. His 
manhood, his words, his assertion of his 
physical advantage, weighed with the 
men. The Adamant returned to obedi- 
ence, and afterwards shared the Venera- 
Me's glory. 

Meantime at the Nore the state of 
things grew worse and worse. The 



74 ADAM DUNCAN 

Sandwich, Inflexible, Directory Champion, 
Brilliant, Inspector, Proserpine, Calypso, 
Swan, and Tysiphone had all hoisted the 
red flag, reeved ropes to the yard- 
arms (to hang seamen who did not sup- 
port the mutiny), elected committees, 
and sent objectionable officers on shore. 
Richard Parker, who had served in the 
navy as a midshipman in the opening 
year of the war, and who had been de- 
graded to the ranks for insubordina- 
tion took the lead. Delegates were de- 
spatched by him to Yarmouth to stir 
up Duncan's crews, and to Portsmouth; 
while day by day the revolted seamen 
paraded the streets of Sheerness, with 
bands playing and coloured papers in 
their hats, bearing the inscription, u Suc- 
cess to the delegates of the fleet." They 
threatened to renew the blockade of the 
port of London, if their demands were 
not complied with ; and the government 
was absolutely helpless, for it had no naval 
force upon which it could rely to send 



ADAM DUNCAN 75 

against them. Even the soldiers and the 
militia were not altogether to be trusted. 
Seditions proclamations were one fine 
morning found posted up in the most 
important barracks of the kingdom. 
How critical was the situation was 
shown by the price of consols, which in 
May never rose above 49^, and were 
seldom above 48 J. A monetary crisis 
added to the general embarrassment 
and alarm. And, although the news 
of Jervis's victory over the Spaniards 
at St. Vincent had come in oppor- 
tunely to cheer the spirit of the na- 
tion, there was the gravest fear as to 
the issue of the twofold struggle, with 
the mutinous fleet at home and with the 
enemy abroad. 

The Nore mutineers' demands went 
far beyond those of the Spithead muti- 
neers. Over and above all the conces- 
sions made to the latter, they required 
that liberty should be given as a matter 
of right to every man in rotation, when 



76 ADAM DUNCAN 

ships came into port ; that unpopular 
officers should not be employed again in 
the same ship, without the consent of 
the company j that all who had deserted 
should be pardoned ; that prize money 
should be more equally divided ; and 
that the articles of war should be recast, 
and deprived of such clauses as were 
likely to inspire " terror and prejudice 
against His Majesty's service." They 
also required the admiralty board to 
come down to Sheerness, and confer with 
them. Fortunately, on May 16 the 
Channel fleet had returned to something 
like order, though for some weeks 
longer discipline could not be vigor- 
ously enforced. This fact strengthened 
the admiralty's hands. With some ex- 
ceptions the demands were refused. 
Troops and militia were poured into 
Sheerness. The guns at Tilbury were 
manned, and the furnaces for hot shot 
kept in heat, in case the mutineers 
should make a dash at London. A gen- 



ADAM DUNCAN 77 

eral exodus from Sheerness began, and 
shops were closed in apprehension of a 
conflict. There was actual firing at 
Tilbury upon a boat-load of mutineers ; 
and the boom of the guns was heard in 
London, — the first shots fired in anger 
near the capital since the day when 
the Dutch sailed up the Medway and 
attacked Chatham. 

On receiving the reply, the mutineers 
proceeded at once to action. A line of 
ships was moored across the Thames, and 
no vessel was permitted to pass it. The 
close blockade of London began, — a 
measure infinitely dangerous to the capi- 
tal at a time when communications by 
land were slow and difficult, before the 
railway and canal system had been de- 
veloped, and when London depended 
upon the sea for its coal and innumer- 
able other supplies. 

In great alarm the admiralty ques- 
tioned Duncan as to whether his fleet 
could be trusted to act against the muti- 



78 ADAM DUNCAN 

neers. The answer could not be doubt- 
ful. Even if the North Sea fleet could 
be persuaded to put to sea against the 
Dutch, — which was at least questionable, 
— it could certainly not be induced to 
act against the revolted sailors, who 
were its crews' own countrymen and 
friends. Moreover, day by day there 
were fresh symptoms of mutiny. The 
Trent refused to weigh anchor, when 
ordered; and, though the crew of the 
Venerable offered to " chastise" her, 
probably any such action would have 
been prevented by the other ships. Ac- 
cordingly, Duncan pointed out to the 
authorities "the disagreeable jealousy 
from all other parts of the fleet ' ? which 
any attempt at coercion by his squadron 
must bring upon his men, though he 
stated himself ready to execute orders, 
if given, and could express complete 
reliance upon his own Venerable. Her 
crew, indeed, had once more sent him an 
address, protesting their devotion : — 



ADAM DUNCAN 79 

We will not [it said], as long as life will per- 
mit, in any respect see either you or the flag 
insulted. . . . While life remains in our hodies, 
we will endeavour always to comply with your 
wish and obey your command ; and, if necessity 
require, you may depend on it we shall give you 
a sufficient proof thereof. ... It would appear 
unnatural for us to unsheathe the sword against 
our brethren, notwithstanding we would wish 
to show ourselves like men in behalf of our 
commander, should necessity arise. 

The admiralty decided not to test so 
severely the North Sea fleet. But its 
services were now required in another 
direction, as news arrived from the Texel 
that the Dutch fleet, with eighteen 
ships of the line, twenty-two frigates 
and sloops, and forty-two transports, was 
on the eve of putting to sea, to attempt 
the invasion of England. It had doubt- 
less been emboldened by the mutiny, 
which by paralysing the British fleet 
had given the best of openings to the 
enemy, and expected to be unopposed. 

Duncan was directed to put to sea 
from Yarmouth, and to proceed at once 



80 ADAM DUNCAN 

off the Texel, and there remain so long 
as the wind blew from the east. But, 
when he issued orders to weigh, the 
Nassau and Standard refused to obey. 
At this juncture arrived fresh and con- 
tradictory instructions for Duncan with 
his ships, or such as he could trust, to 
prepare for an attack upon the mutineers 
at the Nore, and to place his squadron in 
a convenient position for that purpose. 
The order was dated May 27, 1797 ; but it 
was so much waste paper. It must have 
reached Duncan on the 28th. By noon 
on the 29th he was left with only his own 
Venerable, the Adamant, Agamemnon, and 
Glatton. An hour later the Agamemnon 
and Glatton, though the former's ship's 
crew had served loyally and brilliantly 
under Nelson in other and happier 
days, and though the latter' s men had a 
remarkably good character, abandoned 
him. Thus the admiral was deserted by 
his fleet, and from twelve sail of the line 
saw his force reduced to two. Far from 



ADAM DUNCAN 81 

being ready to fight the Nore mutineers, 
the revolted ships in the North Sea fleet 
were prepared to fire upon the Vener- 
able and upon the admiral's flag. 

The mutineers of the North Sea fleet 
assembled at Yarmouth, and took counsel 
as to what they should do. It was finally 
decided that four of the ships should 
proceed to the Nore, and re-enforce the 
mutineers at that anchorage. A fifth had 
gone off before this decision was arrived 
at, of her own accord. At this very 
moment the wind showed an inclination 
to come round to the east, thus render- 
ing it imperative for the Dutch fleet and 
army of invasion to be closely watched. 
Strong appeals were made to the muti- 
neers, but in vain. In this extremity the 
heads of the admiralty went down to 
Sheerness to try if any expostulation 
could prevail upon the men at the Nore 
to return to their duty. They were met 
with impossible demands. There was 
talk among the mutineers of a " Float- 



82 ADAM DUNCAN 

ing Bepublic, ' ' and Parker had assumed 
the style of " President." When the 
rest of the North Sea fleet began to come 
in, the tone of the rebels rose. Parker 
had now twenty- four sail under his 
orders, — a most formidable force. Effi- 
gies of William Pitt, the prime minister, 
were strung up at the yard-arm of sev- 
eral ships, which led the London press 
to report that the mutineers were taking 
the lives of their officers, and greatly in- 
creased the universal terror. Several 
midshipmen and surgeons who had be- 
come especial objects of dislike to the 
crews were ducked, — dropped, that is 
to say, from the yard-arm, tied hand and 
foot, into the sea, and only hauled out 
when at the last gasp. In short, there 
was a dangerous outbreak of violence 
against the officers. At the other end 
of England a great conspiracy was de- 
tected among the marines at Plymouth, 
and no less than one hundred and fifty 
men were found to have been sworn in. 



ADAM DUNCAN 83 

Yet at this juncture the nation was 
saved by the firmness of the government 
and by the heroism of Duncan. How- 
ever just in the first instance the de- 
mands of the mutineers, however inex- 
pedient the delay in acceding to them, 
matters had reached a pitch where fur- 
ther concession was impossible and where 
severity was absolutely essential, if the 
navy and the nation were to survive. 
All supplies were cut off from the muti- 
neers ; and a royal proclamation was is- 
sued, forbidding any intercourse with 
them. Thirty thousand troops assem- 
bled in arms between Dover and Graves- 
end. All seamen who ventured ashore 
were arrested. The buoys and beacons 
in the Thames mouth were removed, to 
prevent the escape of the ships to the 
enemy. For there was talk amongst the 
most extreme of the mutineers of carry- 
ing over the fleet to the enemy. Al- 
ready, however, a more moderate party 
was showing itself among the men. 



84 ADAM DUNCAN 

Many of them — indeed, the great major- 
ity — had never had any intention of 
going to extreme lengths, and viewed 
the suggestion of treason with horror. 
Meanwhile Duncan, with the Venerable, 
Adamant, and three small vessels, had 
proceeded to the Texel. Inside the port 
lay ninety-five hostile ships, fourteen of 
the line ; but this great seaman was not 
of a temper to shrink from confronting 
such odds. His second in command, 
whose gallantry at Camperdown after- 
wards proved him a man of no com- 
mon courage, urged him to retire to 
Leith for safety. Duncan met this 
counsel with a smile. Never did ad- 
miral show greater audacity and deci- 
sion than he, in this supreme hour of 
his country >s fate. He sent for the cap- 
tain of the Adamant, and instructed him 
to fight her, side by side with the Vener- 
able, till both ships went down. The 
spirit which burnt in him he infused 
into his men. He summoned the crew 



ADAM DUNCAN 85 

of the Venerable, and told them, in his 
plain heroic style, what he expected of 
them. The Venerable was to hold her 
post off the Texel, whether the Dutch 
fleet came out or not. If they came out, 
the water was shallow enough to suffer 
her flag to fly above its surface after 
she had been sunk. If she survived, he 
would call upon his crew to act against 
the Nore mutineers. 

The crew stood by him. They soared 
to his height of devotion, and answered 
that they would obey. And so for three 
days, while the wind blew from the 
east, this miraculous Scotsman kept his 
battleship moored at the entrance to 
the channel, at a point so narrow that 
no vessel could pass, and made signals 
to the Adamant in the offing, which 
passed them on in turn to a mythical 
fleet, out of the Dutchmen's sight. To 
bewilder and deceive the enemy, he tried 
every stratagem. Now the Venerable and 
Adamant flew admiral's flags. Next day 



86 ADAM DUNCAN 

they passed from the lofty estate of flag- 
ships to the humbler position of ordi- 
nary captain's commands. Now one ad- 
miral's flag was of the blue and now of 
the red, to give the impression that a 
half-dozen of flag-officers and a score 
of battleships were off the port. As it 
was the usual British custom to keep the 
bulk of the blockading force at some 
distance from the blockaded port and 
only one or two ships close in, this de- 
vice succeeded brilliantly. The Dutch 
were convinced that a strong fleet was 
still off the Texel, notwithstanding the 
mutiny. Thus the blockade was a 
triumph of skill as well as of courage. 

He knew [says his biographer] the critical 
state of public affairs, that it required the most 
bold and decisive measures ; and, whatever the 
result might have been, he determined to abide 
its issue. 

What might not a leader so bold, 
so capable, so ready to face the extrem- 
est risks in his country's service, have 



ADAM DUNCAN 87 

effected, in the flower of his age, in the 
terrible days of the American war, when 
England vainly sought a great admiral 1 
During these eventful hours, when the 
life of his country trembled in the bal- 
ance, and any moment might have wit- 
nessed a furious attack upon his two 
battleships by overwhelming numbers, 
he delivered another of his famous ad- 
dresses to his men, instinct, as are all 
his spoken words, with a spirit of lofty 
devotion: — 

To be deserted by my fleet [he said] in the face 
of an enemy is a disgrace which, I believe, never 
before happened to a British admiral ; nor could 
I have supposed it possible, My greatest com- 
fort under God is that I have been supported by 
the officers, seamen, and marines of this ship, 
for which, with a heart overflowing with grati- 
tude, I request you to accept my sincere thanks. 
, . . May God, Who has thus far conducted you, 
continue to do so ; and may the British navy, 
the glory and support of our country, be restored 
to its wonted splendours and be, not only the 
bulwark of Britain, but the terror of the world. 
But this can only be effected by a strict adher- 
ence to our duty, and obedience ; and let us pray 



88 ADAM DUNCAN 

that Almighty God may keep us in the right 
way of thinking. God bless you all ! 

Between the 5th and the 10th of June 
the crisis passed. Two fresh battleships 
joined Duncan on the first date. On the 
second, Sir Eoger Curtis arrived with 
seven more. His men had returned to 
their duty, though on the way round 
from Spithead there was some trouble as 
to the short weight of meat, which, 
after all the dangers and crises of the 
two past months, was still issued with 
an indifference to results almost crim- 
inal. They all protested their loyalty 
and their abhorrence of ' ' French prin- 
ciples." With eleven British ships of 
the line, Duncan had no fears. The 
Dutch had let slip the favourable mo- 
ment. It is now known that their 
seamen also were mutinous for want of 
pay. The situation had been saved by 
Duncan's happy audacity. 

At the Nore the conflict with the 
mutineers, after some days of great un- 



ADAM DUKOAN 89 

certainty, issued in the complete triumph 
of authority. On June 5, it is true, the 
London Oracle noted that no less than 
one hundred and fifty colliers were lying 
in the Thames, detained by the muti- 
neers ; but already in the revolted fleet 
difficulties were beginning to arise as to 
provisions and water. The seamen of the 
Plymouth and Portsmouth ships plied 
the mutineers with proclamations call- 
ing upon them to return to their duty. 
Many of the Channel ships even went 
so far as to offer "to defend our king 
and country against domestic as well as 
foreign foes. 7 ' The " Floating Kepub- 
lic," with its president, had more than 
a suggestion of French lawlessness about 
it, and was detestable even to the more 
liberally inclined Englishmen. 

Under these circumstances the re- 
volted fleet began to melt away. At 
it greatest strength it had mustered 
fourteen ships of the line, five frigates 
and seven small craft, — a truly formid- 



90 ADAM DOTCAN 

able force. On June 9 several of the 
ships loosed their foretopsail, as if to put 
to sea. On this suddenly two ships of 
the line ran out from the rebel fleet, and 
under a heavy fire made for the shelter 
of the Sheerness batteries. One ran 
aground, and was for an hour cannonaded 
by the mutineers, but very half-heart- 
edly, as only one man on board her 
was wounded, and little damage done. 
On the following days other vessels 
copied their example, and there were 
signs that the ringleaders meant to 
escape to France in a small ship. 

The mouth of the Thames was, how- 
ever, most vigilantly watched by cruis- 
ers ; and only about twenty were able to 
get away in boats, among whom were 
none of the most conspicuous men. On 
the 14th the Sandwich submitted. Par- 
ker asked her crew whether they would 
give the ship up or stand by the dele- 
gates and ringleaders. The crew wished 
not to be the last to surrender, and, as 



ADAM DUNCAN 91 

they could see the mutinous fleet daily — 
indeed, hourly — diminishing, answered 
that the ship should be' given up. Par- 
ker passed at once from the estate of 
"President of the Floating Bepublic" 
and acting rear-admiral of the rebels 
to that of a prisoner whose death could 
alone atone for his misdeeds. He was 
confined at once, then put in irons and 
sent ashore under a strong guard. A 
week later a court-martial met to try 
him. He behaved himself with dignity 
and courage, protested that he had taken 
command unwillingly and had through- 
out restrained the mutineers; and the 
general tendency of the evidence was 
that, though he was unquestionably 
guilty of mutiny, he had not been inso- 
lent to the officers or permitted inso- 
lence. He was sentenced to death, and 
was hanged on board the Sandwich on 
June 30. 

On the eve of execution he wrote 
a dying confession, designed, it would 



92 ADAM DUNCAN 

seem, to put a stop to the ill-treatment 
of seamen in the navy. 

I am to die [he said] a martyr in the cause 
of humanity. I know the multitude thinks 
hard things of me, . . . but my conscience testi- 
fies that the part which I have acted among the 
seamen is right. . . . How could I indifferently 
stand by and behold some of the best of my 
fellow-creatures cruelly treated by the very 
loorst? ... I here solemnly declare that I was not 
an original mover in the disturbances. ... I am 
the devoted scapegoat for the sins of many. . . . 
By the laws of war I acknowledge myself to be 
legally convicted ; but by the laws of humanity 
(which should be the basis of all laws) I die 
illegally. 

From first to last he denied that the 
mutineers had maintained any treason- 
able correspondence with France or 
with the revolutionary party in Eng- 
land, and after a close study of the rec- 
ords of the mutiny the writer is inclined 
to believe that he spoke the truth. At 
the execution his conduct made a deep 
impression on the officers He met his 
fate like a man, with the words : — 



ADAM DUNCAN 93 

I acknowledge the justice of the sentence 
under which I suffer, and hope my death may be 
deemed a sufficient atonement and save the 
lives of others. 



Thus passed from this mortal stage a 
strangely interesting figure. The sea- 
men, it is said, adored him to the last ; 
and it is certain that he was no common 
man. 

We may rest assured that the trouble 
would never have gone to serious lengths, 
had not the seamen had real and 
serious grievances. The risks for the 
leaders were very great, since any fail- 
ure meant for them death or flogging with 
three hundred or five hundred lashes. It 
is satisfactory to note that no very bloody 
vengeance was wreaked upon the Nore 
and North Sea fleet mutineers. All 
the ringleaders, except the handful who 
had escaped, were seized and tried by 
court-martial, and a very large num- 
ber sentenced to death. But only in a 
few cases was the sentence carried out. 



94 ADAM DUNCAN 

The most notorious and the most forward 
of the prisoners were hanged. The 
others were detained in prison till the 
victory of Camperdown gave the looked- 
for opportunity of exercising mercy. It 
was recognised by all the best naval 
officers that there was a great deal to be 
said for the men. Duncan had in the 
past made repeated representations on 
their behalf to the admiralty, — not 
always, unfortunately, with success. 
" Looking, as he did, on the seamen as 
his children," says his historian, Lord 
Camperdown, i l he could not feel harshly 
towards them." He had urged the 
establishment of a naval militia, from 
which men might be drafted into the 
navy, instead of the cruel and unfair 
press. He had also advised a more even 
distribution of prize money. But he was 
ahead of his time, and the navy had to 
wait a generation before these changes 
were made. 

The mutiny, though suppressed in the 



ADAM DUNCAN 95 

home squadrons, smouldered on in our 
foreign fleets. At the Cape, on the 
Mediterranean, in the West Indies, and 
on the Newfoundland station there were 
dangerous outbreaks. Many grievances 
still remained unredressed j and so late 
as 1805, in the opinion of capable judges, 
the temper of the men was very bad, and 
another rising was apprehended. For 
various reasons it did not take place, 
but towards the close of the war the 
moral of the navy declined. There was 
much unpunished cruelty to the men on 
the part of officers, and, in return, some 
skulking in action by the men. 

Duncan's services to his country in 
the time of the mutiny should never be 
forgotten. They are an even stronger 
claim upon the gratitude of posterity 
than the great victory of Camperdown, 
and at the time they were very justly 
commended by Pitt. It would seem that 
the bold blockade of the Texel saved 
England from invasion, since it is not 



96 ADAM DUNCAN 

probable that the Dutch sailors would 
have refused to go out, had they seen 
that no British fleet was watching them ; 
and the consequences of the landing of a 
powerful invading force, commanded by 
such a general as Hoche, could not but 
have been most disastrous at a moment 
when England was divided and hesitat- 
ing within and hard pressed without. 

For many weeks after the mutiny had 
ended — all through the summer and 
autumn — the blockade of the Texel was 
continued by Duncan with unremitting 
vigilance and steadily increasing forces. 
A Franco-Dutch force of thirty-six thou- 
sand men was still waiting to cross the 
North Sea, but it was never given the 
chance. The idea of " corking up" the 
entrance to the harbour — an operation 
which, a century later, the Americans 
attempted at Santiago — was discussed 
between the admiral and Lord Spencer. 
But it was never carried out, — prob- 
ably, we may guess, because the admiral 



ADAM DUNCAN 97 

wanted to get the Dutchmen out and 
strike a decisive blow against them. In 
August a series of heavy gales began, 
which sorely tried the very indifferent 
vessels of the blockading fleet j yet Dun- 
can still held steadily to his station, 
amidst the admiration of Europe. Not 
till September 26 did he put back to 
port, and then only under express orders 
to refit. The Dutch were known to have 
disembarked the troops. All danger of 
invasion had passed, and no one could 
have anticipated what did actually 
happen. 

Off the Texel was left Captain Trollope, 
with the Russell, Adamant, and some small 
craft, to keep a watch on the enemy. 
Meanwhile Duncan's ships had, to some 
extent, to be scattered for repairs, which 
were needed after the gales. Three 
ships of the line were sent to the Nore, 
three more to other points. The rest 
filled up with stores at Yarmouth. 
They were engaged in this work when 



98 ADAM DUNCAN 

early on the morning of October 9, 1797, 
a lugger came in, flying the signal that 
the Dutch fleet was at sea. This was 
indeed startling news. A number of 
the officers and men were on shore : the 
ships would necessarily be in great dis- 
order j but without a moment's hesita- 
tion or delay Duncan stood out, carrying 
with him eleven ships. Three more 
joined him in the afternoon, and he 
pushed for the Dutch coast to fight the 
decisive battle. 

Precisely what motives led the Dutch 
government to order out its fleet at such 
a juncture is hard to decide. The ex- 
pedition to Ireland had been seemingly 
abandoned. There was not much to be 
gained by fighting, and very much to 
be lost. It was certain that the Dutch 
ships after their long stay in harbour 
would be in no condition to face even a 
scratch British fleet, the units of which 
were inured to keeping the sea and ac- 
customed to a close blockade of a diffi- 



ADAM DUNCAN 99 

cult and dangerous coast. Nor had the 
Dutch the excuse of superior force. In 
number of ships of the line they were 
just equal to Duncan, deducting his ves- 
sels absent for repairs. In weight of 
metal they were heavily outclassed. 
Admiral de Winter, the Dutch com- 
mander-in-chief, had in vain protested 
against the folly and uselessness of a 
sortie. The only result of opposing rash 
action was that his courage was sus- 
pected. He was ordered to fight near 
the coast, if the enemy was inferior ; if 
the enemy was slightly superior, he was 
to remember that Dutch admirals had 
often prevailed against odds ; if much 
superior, he was to avoid action. 

Accordingly, on October 7 his ships 
came out. They were seen at once by 
the daring British scouts, and word was 
immediately sent to Duncan at Yar- 
mouth and to the admiralty. The Brit- 
ish cruisers strove in every way to 
embarrass their enemy. They broke in 



100 ADAM DUNCAN 

upon his gun signals with confusing sig- 
nals of their own j they hoisted flags as 
if communicating with a large British 
fleet to windward of them and out of 
sight of the Dutch j and they gave 
ample evidence not only of courage, but 
of superb seamanship by the style in 
which they kept touch with the hostile 
force. They must have felt that this 
force was their prey, when they saw that 
there was much confusion in the Dutch 
fleet and that no real attempt was made 
to chase them off. De Winter stood 
slowly down the coast of the Nether- 
lands, towards the mouth of the Maas, — 
as was suspected, but incorrectly, with 
the intention of proceeding to Brest and 
forming a junction with the French fleet. 
Duncan was hurrying meanwhile to 
the Texel, with a gale behind him, to 
place himself in the line of the Dutch 
retreat. Thence he was moving south- 
ward, when on the morning of October 
11 the masts of a cruiser came over the 



ADAM DUNCAN 101 

horizon, with the signal of the enemy's 
approach flying. The day was dark 
and tempestuous. The wind blew in 
sudden squalls. At 9 A.M. the Venera- 
ble signalled to prepare for battle, the 
work of an hour or more in each ship, 
since the decks had to be cleared, the 
yards secured, and the guns cast loose 
and run out. A few minutes later the 
detached squadron formed its junction 
with the British fleet, raising the fight- 
ing strength to sixteen ships of the line, 
of which, however, nine were of small 
size. The names of the ships were as 
follows : — 



74 guns. 


Venerable 


64 guns. 


Agincourt 




Monarch 




Lancaster 




Russell 




Ardent 




Montagu 




Veteran 




Bedford 




Director 




Powerful 




Monmouth 




Triumph 


50 guns. 


Isis 


64 guns. 


Belliqueuse 




Adamant 



Frigates and small craft : Beaulieu, 40 guns ; 
Circe, 28 guns; Martin; Rose; King George; 
Active; Diligent; Speculator. 

At this date it was unusual for frig- 



102 ADAM DUNCAN 

ates and small craft to fight in the line 
of battle. They commonly kept out of 
the contest, and were fired upon by 
neither side. It was their duty to re- 
peat signals, tow disabled ships, secure 
beaten enemies, watch the hostile 
cruisers, and save life. 

As the British fleet drew nearer, the 
Dutchmen came into full view. They 
had fifteen sail of the line and one frigate 
in line of battle, as follows : — 

74 Brutus 9 

" Staten Generaal 6 

" Vrijheid 5 

72 Jupiter 13 

68 Haarlem 14 

" Cerberus 12 

" Leijden 10 

" Admiraal de Vries .... 4 

" Gelijkheid 1 

64 Wassenaar 7 

" Hercules 3 

56 Alkmaar 15 

" Batamer 8 

" Beschermer 2 

54 Delft 16 

44 Mars 11 

Figures after the ships show their place in 
the line. 



ADAM DUNCAN 103 

Besides these were five frigates and 
five brigs. These smaller vessels were 
not in the line of battle, but were inside 
it, between it and the Dutch coast, placed 
so as to sweep with their broadsides the 
intervals in the line of battleships. 
From the British fleet the enemy bore 
south-west. The direction of his line of 
battle was, roughly, from south south-east 
to north north-west ; and he was moving 
northwards. The direction of the wind 
was generally north-west, veering north- 
wards during the morning, so that the 
British fleet had the inestimable advan- 
tage of the weather gage, enabling it 
to compel battle and to determine the 
moment and the conditions of collision. 

Duncan's fleet, being rather a scratch 
assemblage of indifferent ships than a 
homogeneous force, such as Nelson in 
1798 led to such brilliant victory in 
the Mediterranean, could not be ex- 
pected to manoeuvre with machine-like 
precision. Some ships, which should 



104 ADAM DUNCAN 

have been present, were missing : others 
had only recently joined ; and there was 
some confusion and uncertainty in the 
fleet itself as to the position of the vari- 
ous ships in the line of battle, due, with- 
out doubt, to the hurried departure 
from Yarmouth and the difficulty of 
communicating between the ships in 
tempestuous weather. In fighting qual- 
ity the North Sea fleet stood high, be- 
cause the valour of the war-trained offi- 
cers and the skill of the practised sea- 
men would necessarily make themselves 
felt in the combat. In fleet drill it was 
seemingly most indifferent, as we should 
anticipate where the units were con- 
stantly changing. Its order at the 
moment when the Dutch came into sight 
was very scattered. About 9.20 Duncan 
signalled to his ships to "form on the 
starboard line of bearing," which would 
bring all the battleships abreast into 
a single sloping line, the direction of 
which was, roughly, north-east and south- 



ADAM DUNCAN 105 

west. This sloping line would be gen- 
erally parallel to and heading towards 
the Dutch line. Advancing abreast of 
each other, the British ships would thus 
all simultaneously strike the Dutch line, 
and engage ship to ship in the old- 
fashioned way. 

This line abreast was, however, for 
various reasons, never properly formed. 
The signal was seemingly not understood 
by some ships, as passing squalls of rain 
obscured the flag-hoists. Other ships, 
scattered by the haste of their advance, 
were not able to get into position before 
a slight change of course — steering 
more to the south — brought the line of 
bearing, such as it was, into a loose line 
ahead. At 10. 15 Duncan issued a fresh 
order : the fleet was to give chase ; that 
is to say, the individual ships were ab- 
solved from all necessity of maintaining 
any formation, and were to chase the 
enemy as rapidly as they could. But, 
though this order was bold and judi- 



106 ADAM DUNCAN 

cious, it would have the demerit of bring- 
ing isolated British ships into collision 
with the whole Dutch fleet j and, when 
Duncan saw clearly that the Dutchmen 
were not running away, but only drift- 
ing slowly inshore, he took steps to con- 
centrate his fleet. First, he directed the 
British rear to make more sail, and then 
the van to shorten sail. At 11.8 the 
British fleet was a second time ordered 
to form starboard line of bearing. It 
does not appear that this signal was gen- 
erally acted upon. The fleet was in 
very scattered order, and probably many 
ships did not see the signal. The day 
was advancing. The Dutch were steadily 
drifting inshore upon the shallows ; and, 
these once reached, the British fleet could 
only close at the most terrible risk. Im- 
mediate action was necessary. No more 
time could be spent in getting the scat- 
tered fleet into a mathematically correct 
line of battle. At 11.25 Duncan sig- 
nalled to his ships each to steer for and 



ADAM DUNCAN 107 

engage an antagonist. Ten minutes later 
lie directed Yice- Admiral Onslow, in 
command of the lee division, to attack 
the enemy's rear. Last of all, about a 
quarter to twelve, he directed the whole 
fleet to pass through the gaps in the 
enemy's line, and engage the enemy to 
leeward. 

Hitherto on this dull October morn- 
ing none of Duncan's signals or tactical 
ideas, so far as we can gather these from 
his signals, had risen far above me- 
diocrity. Before this he is revealed only 
as a hard-fighting, bold, but common- 
place sea officer ; though by a curious 
accident, immediately after the order 
to the van to attack the enemy's rear, 
a signal had been hoisted by mistake 
in the flagship, directing the British 
weather or rear squadron to attack the 
enemy's centre. This order would have 
exactly anticipated the plan under 
which Trafalgar was fought eight years 
later. It may have contributed to the 



108 ADAM DUNCAN 

decisiveness of the victory on the present 
occasion j for, though hauled promptly 
down, it was seen elsewhere, and it is 
quite possible that among the rear ships 
were some that acted upon it. But the 
decision to pass through the Dutch line 
and engage the enemy to leeward was a 
magnificent inspiration. It was risky, 
of course, for the wind was blowing 
straight upon the dangerous coast of 
Camperdown, not far distant ; and dis- 
abled ships, of which there must be no 
few after a fierce battle with a stubborn 
enemy, would be in great danger. But, 
in Nelson's splendid words, " Nothing 
great can be achieved without risk" ; 
and Duncan's manoeuvre would effect- 
ually deprive the Dutch of all chance of 
retreat. At the same time, in rough, 
squally weather there were distinct tact- 
ical advantages in engaging to leeward 
of an enemy, especially where, as in this 
case, the ships on both sides were small. 
The vessels to windward would find it 



ADAM DUNCAN 109 

dangerous to open their lower- deck ports 
on the engaged side ; while the guns, on 
recoiling inward after firing, would be 
apt to run out again by force of gravity 
before they could be secured and loaded, 
thus slowing the rate of firing. 

Duncan himself had been on deck 
since six o' clock. He showed all the sober 
elation of a commander who is certain 
of winning, but knows that the enemy 
will make a fierce fight. He afterwards 
told of the exhilaration he had felt at 
the superb sight of the two large fleets 
closing for battle. For himself he enter- 
tained no fears. His whole attention 
was riveted upon the giving of orders 
and the directing of the movements of his 
ship. As the Venerable bore down, he 
called his officers on deck, 



and in their presence prostrated himself in 
prayer before the God of hosts, committing 
himself and them with the cause they sus- 
tained to His sovereign protection, his family to 
His care, his soul and body to His providence. 



110 ADAM DUNCAN 

This simple and solemn act of devotion 
performed, he could leave the issue of 
life or death to God. The spirit of the 
fleet was excellent. As the ships neared 
the enemy, the crews cheered tumultu- 
ously. The weather was now dark and 
showery. The village of Camperdown 
showed through the rain squalls twelve 
miles off to the east south-east. 

Exactly in what order the British fleet 
opened battle cannot be determined. As 
far as can be gathered from the logs of 
the vessels engaged and from Dutch and 
English accounts, a large group of British 
ships under Vice- Admiral Onslow first 
came into collision with the enemy. This 
group, led by the Monarch, attacked the 
Dutch rear. A second, led by Duncan in 
the Venerable, attacked the sixth ship 
from the Dutch van from a quarter to 
half an hour after the battle had begun 
in the Dutch rear. Duncan had the 
famous signal, " Engage more closely, " 
flying ; and it was needed, for, shameful 



ADAM DUNCAN 111 

to relate, there was more than one Brit- 
ish ship backward in entering the battle. 
In particular, the Agincourt, Captain 
Williamson, attracted unenviable atten- 
tion. She should have been at hand to 
support Duncan. Instead, however, of 
using every effort to get into action, her 
captain shortened sail and hovered out 
of effective range. 

A little after half-past twelve Onslow, 
and some minutes later Duncan, struck 
the Dutch, passing through their line 
and engaging on both broadsides. The 
Dutch reserved their fire till the last 
moment, but then discharged two broad- 
sides in rapid succession, with most 
deadly effect. It is probable that, when 
the line had been forced, the causes 
already noticed as likely to affect the 
action of the windward ships came into 
play and slowed the Dutch fire, as it is 
recorded that the British got off three 
shots to the Dutch one. The Venerable 
passed astern of the Staten Generaal, fly- 



112 ADAM DUNCAN 

ing Eear- Admiral Storij'sflag, wore, and 
engaged her. Duncan had picked as his 
antagonist the Vrijheid flagship of the 
Dutch commander-in-chief, Admiral de 
Winter, but was unable to close with her 
at once, as the Staten Generaal shot up 
into the gap through which he had in- 
tended to pass, and compelled his atten- 
tion. The Venerable was some minutes 
very hard pressed, indeed. She had 
upon her hands the Vrijheid, Staten 
Generaal, and possibly the Wassenaar; 
while a Dutch frigate and a brig from 
time to time fired at her. In this hour 
of trial, Duncan's calm fortitude was an 
example to his officers and men. As the 
Venerable was going down to the battle, 
an officer inquired how many ships she 
was going to engage. "Beally, sir," 
said Duncan, with the politest irony, "I 
cannot ascertain ; but, when we have 
taken them, we will count them." It 
seems to have been a matter of honour 
in the British navy of that day not to 



ADAM DUNCAN 113 

duck the head at the unnerving whiz of 
round-shot ; for there is a story of his 
gently reminding a young midshipman 
of the entire uselessness of that instinc- 
tive act. 

The Venerable once in the midst of the 
press of enemy' s ships, the battle was for 
her a mere question of endurance and 
hard pounding. The Dutch seamen 
fought admirably, — so admirably that 
her position was for an hour a very 
critical one. The absence of the Agin- 
court and other ships which should have 
been at hand to give her support made 
her task all the more difficult, and 
greatly increased the danger. The Belli- 
queuse, however, commanded by a fiery 
Scotch captain, Inglis, had now engaged 
the Wassenaar astern. The little Ardent 
had bravely closed with the far larger 
Vrijheid ahead, and was suffering se- 
verely. In quick succession her gallant 
captain, Burges, — whose monument with 
amazing want of patriotism the authori- 



114 ADAM DUNCAN 

ties of St. Paul's recently endeavoured to 
remove from its conspicuous position in 
the cathedral, to make way for an artist, 
— and her master were struck down : 
her crew was decimated twice over ; yet, 
in the fierce excitement on the bloody 
decks, even women went to the guns. 
So sustained and so desperate was the 
contest in the centre that it was not till 
the British ships of Admiral Onslow's 
division, fresh from their victory over 
the Dutch rear, began to arrive that the 
enemy in the centre was battered to 
pieces and compelled to surrender. 

In the rear, by a lucky chapter of 
accidents, Onslow's whole division con- 
centrated upon the four last Dutch ships. 
So crushing and effective was this con- 
centration that the conflict in this direc- 
tion was quickly terminated. At half- 
past one the Dutch Jupiter struck, and 
her example was speedily followed by 
others. The Agincourt had attached her- 
self to Onslow's division, — whether or not 



ADAM DUNCAN 115 

she properly belonged to it is uncertain ; 
and she, now the fight was won, fired into 
one of the surrendered ships in an at- 
tempt to show her prowess without in- 
curring any serious risk. But others of 
the division, with a correcter instinct of 
what was required of them, moved for- 
ward up the Dutch line towards the fu- 
rious battle which was still raging in the 
centre. Captain Bligh, of the Director, 
in particular, a harsh and tyrannical 
but most capable officer, deserves espe- 
cial praise for the tactical insight which 
led him to press forward to his com- 
mander-in-chief's assistance at the earli- 
est possible opportunity. His example 
was followed by the Powerful, and after 
some hesitation by the Montagu. The 
arrival of this formidable re-enforcement 
at once produced a decisive effect. The 
Director, though hotly engaged, and the 
Montagu had suffered very slight loss. 
The Director placed herself upon the port 
quarter of the Vrijheid, some twenty 



116 ADAM DUNCAN 

yards off, and poured in upon the 
Dutch flag-ship a most appalling fire. 
The dreadful hail of iron which was 
now raining upon the Dutchmen from 
not one, but three or four British ships, 
thus reversing the situation earlier in 
the afternoon, did its work Foretop- 
gallantmast, foretopmast, foremast, main- 
topgallantmast, maintopmast, mainmast, 
and, last of all, the mizzenmast came 
crashing down in quick succession. And 
it was time. The Ardent was already an 
unmanageable wreck, with one-third of 
her complement dead or disabled. She 
still fired desperately ; yet, save for this 
seasonable succour, her peril must have 
been extreme, since the Dutch ships 
were executing against her that very 
concentration which the British van had 
employed so profitably against their rear. 
The Venerable, too, had lost heavily. 
All her masts were gravely wounded. 
Forty-five shot had hulled her betwixt 
wind and water. The pumps could 



ADAM DUNCAN 117 

scarcely keep the inflow under. But 
her men were inspirited by the sight of 
the Dutch flags fluttering down in the 
rear, and greeted each surrender with 
cheers. As for her admiral, as a sea- 
man who went through the battle by his 
side wrote of him, "He was heart of 
oak 5 . . . and, as to a broadside, it only 
made the old cock young again." He 
and the pilot were the only men un- 
touched upon the Venerable' s quarter- 
deck. When the maintopgallantmast of 
the British flagship, with the colours, 
was shot away, a seaman named Craw- 
ford went aloft, and nailed a fresh flag 
to the mast. While engaged in this, a 
shot struck the mast and drove a splinter 
right through his cheek, necessarily in- 
flicting great pain. Yet he came down 
amongst his cheering fellow-seamen with 
the brave words, " Never mind: that's 
naught." In this spirit the crew took 
the punishment which the enemy in- 
flicted. For a close action the Venera- 



118 ADAM DUNCAN 

ble J s battle was unusually protracted. 
She was fiercely engaged for two to two 
and a half hours, though experience 
against the French had shown that their 
ships rarely resisted a fierce battering for 
more than an hour. But the Dutch 
were better seamen, more skilful gun- 
ners, and more obstinate fighters than 
their allies. 

Some moments of terrible anxiety 
were caused the other British ships, 
when a Dutch sixty- four, the Hercules, 
close to the Venerable, took fire. She 
was at first mistaken for the British flag- 
ship. The fire, however, was quickly 
got under, and the mistake recognised. 
In the Staten Generaal a fire also broke 
out, but was extinguished. Towards 
three this ship retreated from the line in 
a state of dreadful confusion, with her 
rigging and sails shot to pieces, and un- 
able to work her guns. The Yrijheid, 
as we have seen, was in as bad or even 
worse a case. Not a single officer re- 



ADAM DUNCAN 119 

mained unwounded. The captain had 
received a mortal injury. All her col- 
ours and all her masts had been shot 
away. She floated on the surface of the 
sea, a mere disabled target. At last, about 
three or soon after, she surrendered to 
a hail from the Montagu ; and with her 
fall the battle ended. The firing died 
away along the line, and it was possi- 
ble to reckon the harvest of victory. 

Of the sixteen ships which had formed 
the Dutch line of battle, nine had 
struck. Of the others, one or two at 
the earliest opportunity had bolted. In 
this ignominious category was the Be- 
schermer. Further, two frigates were 
captured. In all, seven Dutch ships of 
the line — including the Mars y which 
was, strictly speaking, a frigate — es- 
caped 5 but most of them were sadly 
knocked about, and in none of them was 
there any fight left. The battle was de- 
cisive in that it destroyed the Dutch 
navy. Never again did this force cause 



120 ADAM DUNCAN 

serious uneasiness. More than one-half 
of the enemy's ships in line were taken, 
though these were in such a wretched 
plight, riddled and dismasted, that they 
were worthless as prizes. On the British 
side no ship was lost ; but the Ardent was 
so much knocked about that she was fly- 
ing signals of distress, and all the others 
were badly wounded in their hulls. It 
was noted as evidence of the Dutch sea- 
men's good gunnery that the Monarch, 
which led into battle, showed no trace 
of damage in her masts and sails. Her 
injuries were all concentrated in her 
hull. 

To pursue the remnants of the Dutch 
was, after such a fierce battle, virtually 
impossible. Signals of distress were fly- 
ing from the captured ships in all direc- 
tions, and these humanity could not 
wholly disregard. Nor were there many 
British ships in a condition to pursue. 
The afternoon was closing in, the lee 
shore was very near at hand, soundings 



ADAM DUNCAN 121 

showed only nine fathoms, and the wind 
was rising with heavy showers of rain. 
What remained of daylight was there- 
fore employed in securing and patching 
up the prizes, putting the British ships 
in order, and getting a good offing. 

The force and the losses of the two 
combatants may thus be reckoned : — 

British. Dutch. 
Ships 16 16 

Broadside ! f™ 5 ™ n 51 l 

( lbs 11,501 9,857 

Men 8,000 7,157 

Loss 1,040 1,160 

The loss of life on either side was 
great. Among the prisoners were three 
Dutch admirals, including the comman- 
der-in-chief, the heroic De Winter, as 
tall of stature as Duncan himself. 

The victory of Camperdown was the 
most decisive that a British fleet had 
won since the days of the Seven Years' 
War. It was greater in its results than 
the 1st of June, 1794, which was, indeed, 



122 ADAM DUNCAN 

if the truth be told, a very insignificant 
success. With twenty-six British against 
twenty-six French ships, Howe only 
made six prizes, and altogether failed to 
deal a smashing blow. In the battle of 
St. Vincent, which was fought eight 
months before Camperdown, a British 
fleet of fifteen sail captured four sail of 
a Spanish fleet of twenty-seven. The 
odds in this latter case may appear to 
have been far greater than those en- 
countered by Duncan at Camperdown. 
But in all probability they were less, 
since the Spanish seamen and admirals 
were notoriously incapable, while the 
Dutch have always been terrible enemies. 
What added to the lustre of the victory 
at Camperdown was the boldness with 
which it had been snatched by Duncan's 
daring manoeuvre of interposing his 
ships between the Dutch line and the 
shore. 

A short message had been despatched 
to England by Duncan at the moment 



ADAM DUNCAN 123 

when the VrijJieid struck and victory was 
assured. The tidings were received with 
the utmost joy and relief j for there had 
been very general uneasiness lest the 
Dutch should avoid a battle and get 
back to port, and perhaps some fear lest 
the recent mutiny in the fleet should 
have affected its efficiency as a fighting 
machine. On October 14, when the 
news reached London, the church bells 
pealed, the Tower guns fired salutes, 
and the streets were illuminated. Four 
days later, when the full despatches ar- 
rived, there were fresh illuminations and 
fresh manifestations of joy. Duncan 
was at once created a peer with the title 
of Yiscount Duncan of Camperdown. 
His gallant vice-admiral, Onslow, was 
made a baronet. Most grateful of all, 
perhaps, both to the admiral and the 
fleet he led, was the pardon of one hun- 
dred and eighty of the unhappy mu- 
tineers. Duncan in person presented 
their petition, and he had the satisfac- 



124 ADAM DUNCAN 

tion of reflecting that his skill and val- 
our had saved from death or scourging 
men whom he pitied rather than blamed. 
Gold medals were struck to commemorate 
the success, Parliament voted its thanks, 
and at the public expense a monument 
was erected to the memory of Captain 
Burges, who had died the hero's death 
for his country. 

As showing the general feeling of 
gratitude to Duncan in England, this 
letter from Lady Spencer, the wife of 
the first lord of the admiralty, may be 
quoted : — 

What shall I say to you, my dear and victori- 
ous Admiral ? Where shall I find words to con- 
vey to you the slightest idea of the enthusiasm 
created by your glorious, splendid, and memo- 
rable achievements? Not in the English lan- 
guage; and no other is worthy of being used 
upon so truly British an exploit. As an English 
woman, as an Irish woman, as Lord Spencer's 
wife, I cannot express to you my grateful feel- 
ings. But amongst the number of delightful 
sensations which crowd upon me since Friday 
last, surprise is not included. The man who 



ADAM DUNCAN 125 

lias struggled thro' all the difficulties of everlast- 
ing N. Sea Cruizes, of hardships of every kind, of 
storms, of cold, of perpetual disappointments, 
without a murmur, without a regret, and lastly 
who most unprecedently hraved an enemy's fleet 
of sixteen or twenty sail of the line, with only 
two Men of War in a state of mutiny to oppose 
them: That Man, acquiring the honour and 
glory you have done on the 11th of October, did 
not surprize me. But greatly have you been 
rewarded for your past sufferings. Never will 
a fairer fame descend to posterity than yours, 
and the gratitude of a great nation must give 
you feelings which will thaw away all that re- 
mains of your Northern mists and miseries. 
God, Who allowed you to reap so glorious an 
harvest of honour and glory, Who rewarded your 
well borne toils by such extraordinary success, 
keep you safe and well to enjoy for many years 
the fame He enabled you to acquire on this 
most distinguished occasion. 

Ever yours with gratitude and esteem, 

Lavinia Spencer. 



As one of Duncan's aunts in writing to 
Dundas put it, the victory was all the 
more valuable and opportune, since the 
nation was a in a chicken-hearted way, 
low-spirited by the war, murmuring at 



126 ADAM DUNCAN 

taxes (though necessary), grumbling and 

dissatisfied in every county. " 

In December a royal procession to 
St. PauPs took place, to give thanks for 
the three great naval victories of the 
war. Duncan was present in person j 
and with the two wagons conveying the 
French and Spanish flags taken in the 
war went a third, with the Dutch flags 
captured by his skill at Camperdown. 

Of the three Dutch admirals who were 
taken in the battle, De Winter, the com- 
mander-in-chief, was received on board 
the Venerable. He had, as the Irish 
rebel, Wolfe Tone, who was present in 
Holland with the army of invasion, put 
it, defended himself like a lion, and dis- 
played unusual courage and obstinacy. 
Duncan received him with the most deli- 
cate kindness, praising him for his gal- 
lantry in words which must have come 
as balm to heal the anguish of defeat. 
Throughout De Winter had played the 
man and the patriot. He had warned 



ADAM DUNCAN 127 

his government of the utter folly of 
fighting, and could at best feel that the 
disaster was none of his work. But he 
felt just indignation at the ignominious 
manner in which certain of his ships had 
fled from the line of battle, and, in his 
reports to the naval committee which 
managed or mismanaged the affairs of 
the Dutch fleet, adverted strongly to this 
point. There is a story that he asked 
Duncan at table whether this defection 
had not been the chief cause of his 
defeat, — a question which Duncan is said 
to have dexterously and wisely evaded. 
It was none of his business to contribute 
to the removal of the cowardly or in- 
capable captains in the Dutch fleet. 

De Winter was taken to London, 
where he was kindly received, and 
where he won the golden opinion of all. 
His wife being dangerously ill, he was, a 
month after the battle, sent back on 
parole to his country. There he was ac- 
quitted of all blame for the defeat, and 



128 ADAM DUNCAN 

declared to have gloriously supported 
the honour of his flag. He remained 
the firm friend of Duncan, and main- 
tained a correspondence with him long 
after his release. The last letter of his 
which remains expresses an ardent de- 
sire for an honourable peace between 
England and Holland. But this was not 
to be. So long as Holland remained 
under the heel of her French conqueror, 
which was until the events of 1813 is- 
sued in the general overthrow of the 
French, so long she had of necessity to 
be counted by England as an adversary. 
There was one unpleasant episode 
after the battle. Captain Williamson 
of the Agincourt was tried by court-mar- 
tial at Sheerness for his conduct in the 
action. The charges against him were 
two : the first, of disobedience to the sig- 
nals and not going into action ; the sec- 
ond, of cowardice or disaffection. The 
first charge was held to have been 
proved in part. The second and far 



ADAM DUNCAN 129 

graver charge was considered not to 
have been proved. Williamson was 
sentenced to be placed at the bottom of 
the captains' list, and pronounced inca- 
pable of ever again serving in the navy. 
There seems to have been a strong feel- 
ing against him ; for Nelson wrote of the 
verdict that it was a most lenient one, 
and maintained that death was the 
proper penalty for such " gun-shyness " 
as the AgincourVs commander had dis- 
played. Duncan is said to have refused 
to give evidence in his favour, with the 
words : — 

For myself I do not care ; but how can I bring 
my ship's company [who had suffered sorely 
through want of the Agincourt's support] back 
to life? 

Through the winter of 1797-98 Dun- 
can, from the bad state of his health and 
the fact that his services were no longer 
urgently required at sea, remained on 
shore. Early in 1798 he visited Dundee 
and Edinburgh, where he was splendidly 



130 ADAM DUNCAN 

received. Not till the summer of that 
year did he again hoist his flag, on this 
occasion in the Kent, which had replaced 
the battered Venerable. He had now 
under his orders no less than sixteen 
British sail of the line with forty smaller 
craft, while a Eussian squadron often sail 
of the line was also with him. This 
ample force watched the coast of Hol- 
land to prevent the despatch of any 
assistance to General Humbert, who 
with a small body of French troops had 
invaded Ireland. In November the 
British fleet returned to port, and Dun- 
can went home on sick leave. As in the 
previous year, he spent the winter of 
1798 ashore. In the summer of 1799 he 
once more returned to the blockade. 
The British government had now ar- 
ranged with Eussia for the despatch of a 
joint expedition of thirty thousand men 
to Holland. At the same time it was 
hoped that the remnants of the Dutch 
fleet might be induced to come over, as 



ADAM DUNCAN 131 

the Dutch seainen were known to be very 
ill-disposed towards the Dutch govern- 
ment. 

At this particular juncture the French 
Admiral Bruix with a large fleet escaped 
from Brest, and sailed into the Mediter- 
ranean. The position was a very dan- 
gerous one for the British squadrons, 
since they were scattered, and might have 
been overwhelmed and defeated in de- 
tail. Ee- enforcements were hurried off 
from every quarter by the admiralty to 
the Mediterranean ; and, as usual, Dun- 
can was stripped of his best shij)s. But 
Bruix did nothing at all. Having en- 
tered the Mediterranean, he left it again 
as soon as he could, without a decisive 
action, and returned to Brest. His aim- 
less movements served only to puzzle the 
British strategists. 

In August, 1799, the British expedi- 
tion for Holland sailed. Duncan's health 
had now once more given way, but he 
clung bravely to his post. It must be re- 



132 ADAM DUNCAN 

menibered that lie was now a very old man 
for active work, that his constitution had 
years before been broken in the West 
Indies, and that he had spent his early 
life in the navy in days when the sani- 
tary conditions were fearful. These 
facts explain his constant enforced with- 
drawals from the fleet to recruit his 
health on shore. Nature was warning 
him that the time for his retirement had 
come. 

When the British force, twelve thou- 
sand strong, under General Abercromby, 
arrived off the Dutch coast, it was de- 
cided to attack from the land side the 
Helder batteries which prevented ac- 
cess to the Texel anchorage, where lay 
the Dutch fleet. The weather, however, 
turned very stormy ; and it was impos- 
sible to land till August 27. On that 
day a considerable force occupied the 
Helder works without any resistance. 
Simultaneously, the Island of Texel was 
seized. The Dutch fleet was thereby 



ADAM DUNCAN 133 

left at our mercy. Admiral Storij, who 
had escaped from Camperdown, and who 
was in command of it, was summoned to 
surrender by Admiral Mitchell, Dun- 
can's second in command, and, as the 
Dutch seamen declined to fight, had no 
choice but to obey. One seventy -four, 
five sixty -eight's, two fifty-four's, two 
forty -four's, and two smaller vessels thus 
fell into British hands. This splendid 
success obtained, Duncan at once re- 
turned to England in very bad health. 
His service at sea was over ; for, though 
he once again returned to his fleet, he 
never got further than Yarmouth. 

This bloodless capture of a large 
squadron was thus the close and consum- 
mation of Duncan's long service career. 
It covered him with fresh glory, and won 
yet more enthusiastic congratulations 
and thanks from the admiralty and from 
his friends. Yet, as his subordinate, 
Admiral Mitchell, had had the u entire 
management and direction of the expe- 



134 ADAM DUNCAN 

dition," it would be unjust to him to 
attribute the great results which were 
obtained to Duncan, and to Duncan 
alone. The commander-in-chief had the 
wisdom and magnanimity to leave the 
conduct of affairs to an officer who was in 
good health, and who understood his 
work. It may be noted, as a matter of 
great credit to all concerned, — the two 
admirals and General Abercromby, — 
that there was no friction of any kind 
between the two services, but that they 
worked harmoniously together, and this 
at a time when discord was only too 
common. 

In the end, as might have been ex- 
pected, a crushing force was concen- 
trated by the French and Dutch against 
the Anglo-Eussian expedition. It was 
now commanded by the incompetent 
Duke of York, who had replaced the 
competent Abercromby. After two in- 
decisive battles, in which there was 
great mismanagement upon the British 



ADAM DUNCAN 135 

side, the expedition was compelled to 
evacuate Holland. But it had completed 
the work begun by the navy at Camper- 
down, and may be said to have finally 
destroyed the Dutch fleet. 

On Duncan's return to England, some 
soreness was caused him by the refusal 
of the admiralty to promote the Kent 1 8 
first lieutenant, Mr. Clay, whom he had 
sent home with despatches, whereas 
Admiral Mitchell's first lieutenant was 
immediately promoted. It should be 
said that it was the almost invariable 
practice, after a victory or a success such 
as this, to promote the commander-in- 
chief's first lieutenant ; and not to do so 
was a distinct slight to Duncan. More- 
over, Clay had other claims. He had 
been severely wounded at Camperdown, 
and had been awarded a pension as 
incapable of further service, though 
subsequently, on his recovery, this pen- 
sion had been withdrawn. Duncan's 
letter was treated with disrespect by the 



136 ADAM DUNCAN 

authorities, who returned no answer. 
Feeling that he had deserved something 
different from this, he was tempted to 
write very bitterly to the admiralty, 
and also, it would seem, suspended his 
friendly and confidential correspondence 
with Lord Spencer, the head of the 
admiralty. 

Lord Spencer, however, was in no 
mood to quarrel with a man who had 
done his country such inestimable ser- 
vice. He wrote to Duncan in private a 
kindly and generous remonstrance, point- 
ing out that "the proper and regular 
mode of conveying your wishes for the 
promotion of any officer is through me 
in a private communication." And at 
the earliest opportunity he promoted 
Clay. Thus the difference which had 
arisen between the two was healed. 

Duncan had always held that duty 
commanded him to serve his country till 
the war was ended. 



ADAM DUNCAN 137 

I cannot [he had written to a relative in 
1796] bring myself to believe it will be right to 
think of retirement till the war is over, however 
comfortably I may think myself circumstanced. 
. . . Till you make a peace, there will be no rest 
for me. 

But failing health and the completion 
of his work — perhaps also the feeling 
which he more than once expressed, that 
young commanders are better than old — 
were now working to make him recon- 
sider his resolve. In the North Sea the 
war was practically over. All danger 
from Holland had ceased ; and now 
throughout the world the star of Britain 
was in the ascendant. Nelson's brilliant 
victory of the Nile in mid-1798 had 
thoroughly cowed the French navy. 
In March, 1800, Duncan finally decided 
to retire, and in April struck his flag on 
board the Kent, and departed to Scotland. 

There in serenity and repose, with the 
consciousness of having rendered to his 
country true and faithful service, he 
spent the evening of a noble life. But 



138 ADAM DUNCAN 

the spirit of self-sacrifice which burnt in 
him called him forth from his retirement 
early in 1801, when the Northern Coali- 
tion threatened England. He offered 
the admiralty his assistance ; but it was, 
perhaps wisely, declined by Lord Spen- 
cer, who reminded him that, however 
willing the spirit, the body could scarcely 
be trusted. Yet it is much to be wished 
that Duncan had been sent to Copen- 
hagen, as Nelson's superior, in place of 
Sir Hyde Parker. He understood Nel- 
son, and with him might have won a 
bloodless victory over the Danes ; while, 
as his conduct at the Helder showed, he 
was perfectly ready to give a capable 
subordinate the free rein which Sir 
Hyde Parker grudged. 

Duncan continued for the most part at 
his Scotch home till in his seventy-third 
year, in July, 1804, when the position of 
his country was once more a critical one, 
he journeyed to London to offer for the 
last time his services. But, if the spirit 



ADAM DUNCAN 139 

was willing, the body was now more than 
ever weak. He was attacked with illness, 
which made any command quite impos- 
sible, and on his return home died on 
August 4, 1804, near Coldstream. Thus 
he may be said almost to have fallen in 
harness, with one single thought in his 
heart — the service of his country — to 
the very last. 

Thus ended a career of signal dignity 
and beauty, — a career in which there is 
nothing to censure and very much to 
praise. Unlike his greater contempo- 
rary, Nelson, Duncan was happy in his 
private life. No glaring scandal in his 
case estranged the sympathy of old 
friends. He cultivated a restraint which 
was lacking in the younger admiral. 
His modesty was not the least striking 
feature in his character, when success 
and praise flowed in upon him in full 
tide. "This Duncan, " it was said of 
him with absolute truth after all the 
rejoicings over Camperdown, "hath 



140 ADAM DUNCAN 

borne his faculties so meekly ! ' ' Per- 
haps the country was accustomed to a 
breezy air of self-assertion in its admirals, 
and was surprised at his reticence and 
quiet. He courted no popularity, — not 
that a man is the worse for desiring the 
praise of his fellows : that is, at the 
worst, an honourable failing, — and he 
would probably not have countenanced 
those triumphal tours of Nelson which 
displeased the good taste of the fastidi- 
ous not a little. 

Yet there were times when he could 
fling his cloak of restraint aside. He 
assuredly was no starched lay figure in 
the hour of stress and battle, even if 
few of those wonderful touches are re- 
corded of him which set Nelson above 
his contemporaries as a master in the 
art of appealing to the heart of the com- 
mon seaman. Nothing better has ever 
been achieved by the navy which Dun- 
can adorned than that magnificent 
blockade of the Texel with only two 



ADAM DUNCAN 141 

ships ; and the terms of his assurance to 
his men that he meant to fight the Ven- 
erable till she sank at her moorings were 
in the very Nelson style, — great-hearted, 
bold, undaunted, with just a dash of the 
theatrical. 

As an admiral, Duncan showed very 
high, if not the highest, capacity. What 
distinguishes his method of action from 
that of Nelson, whom posterity has pro- 
nounced the greatest seaman of all time, 
was that he never seems to have con- 
templated crushing a part of the enemy's 
force with the whole of his own. It was 
this method which at the Nile and Tra- 
falgar brought such brilliant success ; 
but it is only fair to remember that at 
Copenhagen, where he was likely to en- 
counter a peculiarly desperate resistance, 
Nelson departed from it, — it must be 
presumed with good reason. At Cam- 
perdown, through accident, and not 
through Duncan's dispositions, so far as 
these are recorded in the signal logs of 



142 ADAM DUNCAN 

the flagship, a concentration of the Brit- 
ish fleet upon a portion of the enemy 
did actually take place, and proved won- 
derfully effective. Duncan's orders, as 
given out by signals, were for "each 
ship to steer for and engage her oppo- 
nent after passing through the Dutch 
line. 77 It is clear, then, that he pur- 
posed a ship to ship battle. The fact, 
however, remains that he, like Nelson 
at Copenhagen, could rely upon a con- 
siderable preponderance of force, having 
sixty guns, or about twelve per cent, 
more than the Dutch, on the broadside, 
with an advantage of sixteen hundred 
and fifty pounds' weight of metal, or 
about one-sixth. It was generally held 
about this time that a preponderance 
of one-fourth in weight of metal gave 
absolute certainty of success. Now at 
the Nile and Trafalgar the British fleets 
were distinctly inferior in force, and 
were thus, in a manner, compelled to a 
concentration upon a detail of the en- 



ADAM DUNCAN 143 

emy. Duncan may have considered 
that his superiority insured victory, and 
rendered the adoption of any such 
scheme unnecessary. He is known to 
have been a careful student of what 
works then existed on tactics, and it is 
not probable that he altogether over- 
looked the possibilities of a concentra- 
tion. Desiring to destroy the whole 
Dutch fleet, and well aware that the 
proximity of the shoals and of the 
Dutch coast gave unusual facilities for 
escape, he may have desired to prevent 
what did actually happen, — the flight 
of several of the unengaged Dutch ships 
from the line. Moreover, with such a 
fleet as he commanded, — the units of 
which were, in many cases, strange to 
each other, — he may have feared the 
very grave danger which is always apt 
to arise when a concentration is effected 
upon a part of the enemy, — the risk of 
friend firing into friend, which has a 
very bad effect upon moral. So able 



144 ADAM DUNCAN 

an officer as Saumarez objected to Nel- 
son's plan of action at the Nile for this 
very reason. It is instructive to note 
that several logs of the British ships en- 
gaged at Camperdown recorded the fact 
of receiving shot from the misdirected 
guns of friends. The Lancaster 7 slog, in- 
deed, shows that the fire discipline of 
that ship was bad, since we find the 
incident of her firing into the British Isis 
narrated, with the remark, " Ordered 
the people to cease firing, for that was 
one of our own ships, but could not 
stop them from firing. " We may con- 
trast this with the perfect discipline of 
the Theseus at the Nile. 

We had not been many minutes in action 
with the Spartiate [says the Theseus' s captain], 
when we observed one of our ships place her- 
self so directly opposite to us on the outside 
of her [the Spartiate] that I desisted firing on 
her, that I might not do mischief to friends. 

"With such ships and crews as this, the 
possibilities were infinitely greater than 



ADAM DUNCAN 145 

with the odds and ends which formed 
the North Sea fleet. 

Two other charges have been brought 
against Duncan. The first is that he 
changed his plan of action at the last 
minute. The signal logs and evidence 
taken at the Agincourt court-martial, 
which have been examined and pub- 
lished by Admiral Sturges Jackson, 
however, show conclusively that this 
was not the case. A signal hoisted by 
mistake in the Venerable led to the 
erroneous idea of such a change being 
entertained. 

The second charge is that Duncan 
attacked with his fleet in great disorder. 
This fact seems from the logs to be unde- 
niable, though it should be noted that 
the Dutch accounts speak distinctly of 
the British ships advancing en Schiquie?*, 
or in a line of bearing, which was the 
formation ordered. The same charge 
has been brought against Nelson for the 
manner in which at Trafalgar he brought 



146 ADAM DUNCAK 

his fleet into action. Observers at Cadiz 
npon that memorable morning watched 
with exultation, we are told in the Naval 
Chronicle, the approach of "the mad 
Englishmen in confusion and disorder." 
Yet the end and object of naval tactics 
is to crush the enemy, and there are times 
when true genius will brush aside the 
rules which are meant rather for the 
guidance than for the enslavement of 
leaders. The British fleet at Camper- 
down was in disorder from causes over 
which Duncan could have no control, — 
the gale that had been blowing and the 
vehement pursuit of the Dutch. To 
have delayed while a mathematically 
correct line was being formed would 
have given the Dutch time to reach the 
shoals. Far, then, from Duncan deserv- 
ing censure for the manner of his attack, 
he merits the highest praise for refusing 
to be bound by pedantry and for daring 
to run the risks which were inseparable 
from such confusion. 



ADAM DUNCAN 147 

In one respect the career of Duncan 
was most remarkable. It may be said, as 
a general rule, that few old commanders, 
whether on land or sea, have distin- 
guished themselves. Nelson's whole 
brilliant career was compressed into the 
short term of forty-seven years. He was 
famous at the age of thirty-eight. But 
Duncan did not make for himself a place 
amongst our very greatest admirals until 
1797, when he was sixty-five years old. 
He was sixty-six when the battle of Cam- 
perdown was fought. The sea service is 
more favourable to old commanders than 
the land, where greater physical fatigue 
must necessarily be encountered ; and 
amongst the distinguished naval officers 
of the time were not a few who won 
their spurs in old age, — the most note- 
worthy, Howe and St. Yincent. Yet 
Howe showed a certain timidity in 
checking the British pursuit after the 
battle of June 1, and even St. Yincent 
in the great battle from which he took 



148 ADAM DUNCAN 

his title showed a strange indifference to 
gathering in the full harvest of victory. 
"Few officers/ 7 it was said by Admiral 
Sir Eichard Dundas, "are really good 
for much after fifty or fifty-five years of 
age." " No general over sixty years of 
age should be employed," said Napo- 
leon. "At sixty one is good for noth- 
ing." Duncan is the most famous and 
by far the most brilliant exception to 
this sound generalization. At no point 
can it be said with justice that the work 
he did could have been better done by 
a younger man. In the great year of 
his command, 1797, he showed all the 
vigour, dash, and perseverance of youth. 

This is all the more striking, inasmuch 
as in his old age his health was never 
good. But the iron will which ruled the 
body sustained him, and held in check all 
physical weakness till his task was per- 
formed. 

In his treatment of his men, Duncan's 
tenderness and humanity have already 



ADAM DUNCAN 149 

been noticed. The interests of the com- 
mon seamen constantly engaged his at- 
tention, both before and after the great 
mutiny. He viewed with especial dis- 
favour the press as a means of getting 
men, disliking, in all probability, its 
capriciousness. As Napoleon justly said, 
it spared the gentleman and carried off 
the common fellow, and was therefore 
grossly unjust. He was just as averse to 
the current practice of shipping for the 
navy jail-birds. It is true that in many 
cases these were minor offenders, — 
poachers and smugglers and ne'er-do- 
wells rather than hardened criminals ; 
but the intermixture of such elements 
could not but have had a bad moral 
effect upon the other men. Amongst 
the suggestions found in the admiral's 
papers are many that have long since 
been carried out in the reformed navy 
of our own day. Pay to be regularly 
given, gratuities for long and excellent 
service, and more liberty are the chief 



150 ADAM DUNCAN 

of these recommendations. In the great 
mutiny, under severe provocation, he 
countenanced no excessive severities j 
and probably one of the greatest pleas- 
ures which his victory at Camperdown 
brought him was the fact that it led to 
the pardoning of so many of the mis- 
guided mutineers. His feeling to the 
seamen was that they were his children, 
— wayward and disobedient children it 
might be at times, but still children, 
deserving his protection and love. That 
such an admiral in the supreme hour of 
battle could depend upon the devotion 
of those over whose interests he had 
so faithfully watched is only what we 
should expect. The wounded seaman 
in hospital after Camperdown, who met 
some stranger's invectives against ad- 
mirals and wars with the words : "Only 
a leg ! only a leg ! Hurrah ! Duncan for- 
ever ! ' ' was but a type of thousands 
more who purchased with their heroism, 
skill, and devotion to their chief and 



ADAM DUNCAN 151 

country that great victory over the 
Dutch. 

Amongst his private characteristics 
was his saintliness of life. Duncan was 
the model of the Christian admiral. 
The sustaining force of religion was with 
him through all the trials of war ; and, 
as His last act before going into action at 
Camperdown was to ask the Almighty 
for His protection, so his first act after 
battle was in the sight of all to offer up 
praise to the Higher Power "Which had 
given him success. In such simple faith 
as his there is something inspiring and 
elevating. Yet, because he was a Chris- 
tian in the truest sense of the term, he 
did not frown upon the joys of life. In 
private society he was a cheerful and 
excellent companion, welcome wherever 
he showed himself. 

In dealing with his allies, the Eus- 
sians, he displayed exceptional tact. 
No quarrel, hardly even a dispute, arose 
between him and the Eussian com- 



152 ADAM DUNCAN 

manders- in- chief. The management of 
an allied fleet is proverbially difficult; 
and in this case it was certainly en- 
hanced by the great weakness of the 
British squadron at the outset, and by 
the fact that Eussia had little or nothing 
to gain by hazarding her ships to enable 
Great Britain to destroy the naval power 
of Holland. The moment the Anglo- 
Bussian forces on land encountered re- 
sistance, quarrels began between the two 
allied armies, thus illustrating by a 
strong contrast Duncan 7 s good manage- 
ment in maintaining such excellent rela- 
tions at sea. 

He died full of years and honours, 
leaving a name which will ever be cher- 
ished and esteemed by his countrymen. 
His retirement from active service, his 
modesty which avoided displays and 
demonstrations, and the critical state of 
the war did, indeed, cause his death to 
pass at the time almost unnoticed ; and 
afterwards, as has been pointed out al- 



ADAM DUNCAN 153 

ready, the glory of his achievements was 
obscured by the greater brilliancy of 
Nelson's fame. But with a revived in- 
terest in the past of our navy his career 
has once more received attention. A 
Duncan and a Venerable figure amongst 
our newest and most formidable battle- 
ships. A Camperdown has for ten years 
done sterling service in the British fleet. 
It is well that our seamen of to-day 
should be reminded of such a figure. 
He should never be forgotten by them, 
whether in the hour of thought or 
action. 



BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE. 

I. The chief authority for the facts of 
Duncan's life is the Earl of Camper- 
down's Admiral Duncan, published 
by Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. in 
1897, and illustrated with three por- 
traits and a plan of Camperdown. Lord 
Camperdown gives the sources upon 
which he drew as follows, and the au- 
thor of this work has examined most of 
them afresh and independently : ' ' Al- 
most every naval history contains no- 
tices of him [Duncan] which are worth 
collecting and collating. The standard 
works about the British navy, such as 
the Naval Chronicle, the Annual Register, 
James's Naval History, Charnock's Naval 
Biography, Beatson's Memoirs, Ealfe's 
Naval Biography, Schomberg's Naval 
Chronology, Brenton's Naval History, 
Admiral Sir Charles Ekin's Naval Bat- 
tles, have been consulted ; and also the 
biographies of Viscount Keppel, by the 



BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE 155 
Hon. and Eev. Thomas Keppel, and of 
Earl St. Vincent, by Jedidiah Tucker.' ' 
To these must be added : — 

II. Great Sea Fights, Volume I., ed- 
ited by Admiral T. Sturges Jackson and 
published in 1899 by the Navy Eecords' 
Society, which contains the logs of all 
the ships that took part in the battle of 
Camperdown, and also gives extracts 
from the evidence heard by the court- 
martial which sat to try Captain Will- 
iamson for misconduct in the battle. 
The volume is invaluable, as the logs are 
supplemented by useful notes and by a 
short introduction. 

III. Admirals' Despatches, North 
Sea, Volumes VI. and VII., in manu- 
script in the Public Eecord Office. Con- 
tain Duncan's official correspondence 
with the admiralty during the most 
eventful period of his command. 

IV. Nore and Sheerness, 1797. A 
large bundle of papers in the Eecord 



156 BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE 
Office, dealing with the Nore and North 
Sea mutinies. There is an immense 
amount of interesting material to be 
found here. 

V. The Trial, Life, and Anecdotes 
of R. Parker, 1797. A pamphlet giv- 
ing many curious particulars of Parker, 
but not very trustworthy. 

VI. The Oracle, 1797. A daily news- 
paper. File in the British Museum. 

VII. Courts-martial, Vol. LXXVIIL, 
manuscript in the Record Office. Gives 
the trial of Parker and other mutineers. 



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